Making the implicit explicit

It is not surprising that the Australian government's plans to regulate the rating agencies, announced last week, were welcomed by the rating agencies. Despite the tough sounding rhetoric that went wi.. read more

Playing catch-up with credit ratings

Standard & Poor's responded quickly to St George shareholders approving the merger of their bank with Westpac, by equalising the credit ratings assigned to St George with those assigned to Westpac.. read more

Bring back the (trail) blazing COMMETS

The New Zealand corporate bond market stands out as one of the few that has continued to function throughout the crisis. This raises the interesting question of why this is so. The answer appears to l.. read more

Money markets priced for a recession

Conditions in money markets have been easing over the last few weeks with the TED spread (the difference between the interest rates on interbank loans and short-term US government debt) now down to 20.. read more

Few may invest alongside AOFM

The Australian Office of Financial Management announced last week how it will spend the first $1.0 billion of its $8.0 billion of funds available for investment in RMBS. read more

Debt becoming very expensive for semis

The liquidation of assets that is now being forced on the fund management industry is no doubt the driving force behind the pricing of semi-government bonds (bonds issued by the state governments), wi.. read more

Monumental rating moves

Monumental Global Funding has had as much as $725 million of bonds outstanding in the domestic market but now has only one $200 million, November 2011, bond remaining.  Moody's Investor Service c.. read more