Banks unable to sell complex financial paper

Australian News.Net
Sunday 16th March, 2008

The volatile Wall Street market has sparked vast losses at major banks and has also exposed the trillion-dollar trade in mortgage-backed securities, corporate and municipal bonds and other complex securities.

Mounting losses on mortgage securities have affected other complex debt instruments and deepened a credit crunch that has reverberated around the world.

The secretive nature of a market where trades occur between banks rather than on an open exchange appears to have scared off buyers in the current uncertain climate.

Banks in New York, London and Zurich are trying to offload their exposure to such securities, but the liquidity squeeze has deepened in recent months and the banks are struggling to find purchasers.

Email this story to a friend

Have your say on this story