BIS – Supervisory Guidance for Assessing Banks’ Financial Instrument Fair Value Practices

A looming slowdown in Chinese bank lending and uncertainty over the debt problems of some European countries, particularly Greece, pushed the dollar to a 5-month high against the euro Wednesday. The dollar tends to benefit from economic or corporate news that points to instability, just as stocks, commodities and emerging-market currencies trend lower for the same reason. The 16-nation euro slid to $1.4108 in late trading in New York from $1.4292 late Tuesday. It traded as low as $1.4081, its lowest point since last August. As recently as early December, the euro was trading above $1.50. “The people that are really moving this market are momentum traders,” said Meg Browne, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. The euro’s break below a key technical level is driving traders to sell the euro further, she said. It’s a bet that the decline will continue for the near future. The British pound was also lower, at $1.6287 from $1.6361, while the dollar gained to 91.21 Japanese yen from 90.82 yen late Tuesday. Europe is gripped by concerns over debt levels for some of the weaker members in the European Union, particularly Greece and Ireland, fueling speculation that they will face tough fiscal measures, such as spending cutbacks and higher taxes, that would limit growth in coming years. Officials from the European Union have said Greece should be able to deal with its debt crisis and that they are not worried about a default, although bond markets suggest the risk of a default has increased. “There are continued worries over Greece which are definitely not going away any time soon,” said Dan Cook, senior market analyst at IG Markets. Meanwhile, a Chinese banking regulator said Wednesday that the country will slow bank lending in order to stop bubbles from forming in the hot real estate market and in other assets. The economic rebound in China, and its demand for energy and other commodities, has helped bolster the world recovery. In the first nine months of 2009, China’s economy expanded 7.7 percent. A government report in December said full-year growth is forecast at 8.3 percent. China releases fourth-quarter gross domestic product on Thursday. In the U.S., however, the government said that inflation at the wholesale level rose 0.2 percent in December, slower than November’s 1.8 percent rise. That gives the Federal Reserve leeway to keep interest rates near zero, possibly weighing on the dollar despite improvements in the U.S. economy. Lower interest rates can hold down a currency as investors transfer funds to assets with the possibility of higher returns. Also Wednesday, data showed the housing market remains a significant risk to the economy. Construction of new homes and apartments fell 4 percent in December to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 557,000 from an upwardly revised 580,000 in November, the Commerce Department said. Applications for future projects, however, increased strongly as the industry ramps up for the spring selling season. In other late trading, the dollar rose to 1.0437 Swiss francs from 1.0324 francs late Tuesday, and jumped to 1.0472 Canadian dollars from 1.0313. The Australian and New Zealand dollars were also sharply lower versus the dollar. They, and the Canadian dollars, are known as commodity-backed currencies because their economies are closely tied to the export of commodities such as oil, metals and grains. A slowdown in Chinese lending could constrain demand for commodities needed to run the country’s factories, cars and construction.
Source YellowBrix, Inc.

The White House wants commercial banks that take deposits from customers to be barred from investing on behalf of the bank itself—what’s known as proprietary trading—and said the administration will seek new limits on the size and concentration of financial institutions. Under the proposed rule, commercial banks would be prohibited from owning, investing in or advising hedge funds or private-equity firms. Administration officials said they also want to toughen an existing cap on bank market share. Since 1994, no bank can have more than 10% of the nation’s insured deposits. The Obama administration wants that cap to include non-insured deposits and other assets.

Die Europäische Kommission genehmigte den Zusammenschluss am Donnerstag ohne Auflagen. Es drohe keine Einschränkung des Wettbewerbs im Europäischen Wirtschaftsraum.

The U.S. Senate will renew efforts this month to overhaul financial regulation, basing much of its work on a bill offered by Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd, who announced this week he will retire at the end of 2010.
Like legislation approved on Dec. 11 by the U.S. House of Representatives, the Dodd bill proposes the biggest regulatory changes since the 1930s for Wall Street and the banks.
Below is a summary of the House and Senate proposals.

SYSTEMIC RISK:

HOUSE BILL
* House bill creates inter-agency Financial Services Oversight Council with staff drawn from existing agencies
* Council members include heads of Treasury, Federal Reserve, SEC, FDIC, others; Fed acts as council agent
* Council can recommend that existing agencies impose stricter standards on large, interconnected financial firms that could threaten economic stability or that are troubled
* Fed limits leverage of financial holding companies subject to stricter standards at 15-to-1 debt-to-equity ratio
* Fed sets minimum capital ratio for financial holding companies that are subject to stricter standards at 2 percent of tangible equity to total assets
* Fed can impose other leverage, capital, liquidity rules on firms, taking off-balance sheet activities into account
* Fed can prohibit firms subject to stricter standards from proprietary trading done in-house using firms’ own money
* Firms subject to higher standards face routine “stress tests;” must submit “living wills” on unwinding quickly
* Firms can be ordered to hold contingent capital, or long-term hybrid debt convertible to equity in emergencies
* Firms failing to comply can be ordered to restructure, curb executive pay, sell businesses or otherwise break up
* Treasury secretary must approve any order to divest more than $10 billion in assets; president, more than $100 billion

DODD BILL
* Creates Agency for Financial Stability, governed by board similar to House’s council, also with rule-writing power only
* Agency relies less on Fed, more on new single bank regulator and FDIC to execute and enforce its orders
* Imposes incrementally tighter standards on firms with total assets above $10 billion as they present more risk to financial stability
* Regulators can impose tighter balance-sheet rules and “living will” requirements on firms, resembling House bill
* Regulators can force firms not complying with tighter rules, or that threaten stability, to recapitalize, be acquired, restructure, curb pay, dismiss executives, break up
* Firms’ credit exposure to unaffiliated companies can be limited to 25 percent of capital stock, as in House bill

DEALING WITH LARGE TROUBLED FINANCIAL FIRMS:

HOUSE BILL
* FDIC — with approval of council, Treasury and president — can guarantee debts of solvent firms up to $500 billion
* FDIC can dismantle insolvent firms through bankruptcy or receivership, much like it dismantles failing banks now
* Secured creditors in FDIC resolutions can have up to 10 percent of their claims treated as unsecured claims
* $200 billion fund pays for FDIC resolutions; fund gets up to $150 billion from fees charged to firms worth more than $50 billion, can borrow another $50 billion from Treasury; hedge funds’ worth $10 billion or more pay into fund

DODD BILL
* FDIC can guarantee debts of firms in receivership, with approvals from senior officials
* FDIC can dismantle large troubled financial firms
* Firms with assets above $10 billion pay fees for FDIC resolutions after they occur, not before, unlike House bill

Der jährliche Treibstoffverbrauch des Lufthansa Konzerns lag im Geschäftsjahr 2008 bei etwa 7,9 Millionen Tonnen Kerosin. Er stellt für den Lufthansa Konzern eine wesentliche Aufwandsposition dar. Starke Veränderungen der Treibstoffpreise können somit das betriebliche Ergebnis erheblich beeinflussen. Lufthansa setzt deswegen eine regelbasierte Treibstoffpreis-Sicherung mit einem Zeithorizont von 24 Monaten ein. Ziel ist es, die Schwankungen der Treibstoffpreise zu verringern. Die Sicherungen erfolgen überwiegend in Rohöl, nach Möglichkeit ergänzt um die Preisdifferenz Kerosin zu Rohöl.

Bei der Treibstoffabsicherung bedient sich Lufthansa der üblichen Marktinstrumentarien wie Terminkontrakten und Optionen. Lufthansa sichert mit einem Vorlauf von 24 Monaten jeweils monatlich 4,8 Prozent der geplanten Menge in Brent-Collars bis zu einem Sicherungsgrad von 85 Prozent. Den Sicherungsgeschäften liegt also eine feste Regel zugrunde, sie bilden somit einen Durchschnittskurs der Rohölpreise ab. Die auf einen Zeitpunkt folgenden sechs Monate sind daher zu 85 Prozent gesichert.

Als ergänzende Maßnahme zur Risikoreduktion hat sich der Treibstoffzuschlag im Markt etabliert. Es ist jedoch ungewiss, in welchem Umfang sich der Zuschlag je nach Entwicklung der Treibstoffpreise und des konjunkturellen Umfeldes durchsetzen lässt.

Folgende Grafik stellt den Treibstoffaufwand nach Hedging unter Annahme verschiedener Ölpreisszenarien dar.

Ölpreisszenario Lufthansa Konzern
Stand 11. März 2009

Quelle Lufthansa

3Com Corp. (COMS), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ)

Premium offered: $0.36 or 4.77%
Acquirer: HPQ
Target: COMS
Offer per share: $7.90 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $3,098,143,000
Target share price: $7.54
Acquirer share price: $52.04
Expected closing: 1st Half 2010 4/1/2010
Annualized gain: 20.75%
Note: Deal has been approved by the boards of both companies. The U.S. SEC
has reportedly opened an investigation of COMS option activity ahead of the
merger annoucement. The investgation is focused on illegal profits through
the use of advance knowledge of the deal.

Affiliated Computer Services Inc. (ACS), Xerox Inc. (XRX)

Premium offered: $0.53 or 0.88%
Acquirer: XRX
Target: ACS
Offer per share: 4.935 share and $18.60 per share
Value of offer per share: $60.86
Value of outstanding common equity securities: $5,942,214,664
Acquirer share price: $8.56
Target share price: $60.33
Expected closing: First Quarter 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 8.41%
Note: Xerox has agreed to assume ACS’s $2B in debt and issue $300M of
convertible stock to ACS’s class B shareholders. Xerox also expects to sell
between $2B adn $3B in bonds to finance the acquisition. Directors of both
cos approved the deal as chairman of ACS plans to resign after the merger.
ACS and Xerox, resolving a shareholder lawsuit, agree that ACS Chariman
Deason won’t be forced to vote any of his shares of ACS in favor of the deal
if ACS gets a higher offer and withdraws its recommendation for the Xerox
acquisition and won’t complete deal until all Class A shareholders agree.
Xerox completed a $2 billion debt offering to cover part of ACS’s senior
credit facility. Shareholders of both cos will vote on the merger on Feb. 5.

Airvana (AIRV), SAC Private Capital

Premium offered: $0.05 or 0.66%
Acquirer: SAC Private Capital
Target: AIRV
Offer per share: $7.65 stock
Value of outstanding common equity: $478,737,000
Target share price: $7.60
Acquirer share price: N/A
Expected closing: By End of 1Q 2/12/2010
Annualized gain: 6.58%
Note: Airvana’s Board of Directors and Special Committee have approved the
deal.

Allied Capital Corp. (ALD), Ares Capital Corp. (ARCC)

Premium offered: $0.31 or 8.01%
Acquirer: ARCC
Target: ALD
Shares offered per share: 0.325 shares
Value of offer per share: $4.24
Value of outstanding common equity: $760,248,158
Acquirer share price: $13.06
Target share price: $3.93
Expected closing: First Quarter 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 75.95%
Note: Upon closing of the deal, ARCC shareholders will own about 65% of the
merged company and ALD holders 35%.

Allion Healthcare Inc. (ALLI), H.I.G. Capital LLC (Private)

Premium offered: $0.01 or 0.15%
Acquirer: H.I.G. Capital
Target: ALLI
Offer per share: $6.60 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $176,022,000
Target share price: $6.59
Acquirer share price: N/A
Expected closing: First Quarter 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 1.46%
Note: H.I.G will repay ALLI debt of $79M as part of the merger pact.

Amicas Inc. (AMCS), Thoma Bravo LLC (Private)

Premium offered: -$0.07 or -1.29%
Acquirer: Thoma Bravo
Target: AMCS
Offer per share: $5.35 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $190,995,000
Target share price: $5.42
Acquirer share price: N/A
Expected closing: 1Q 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: -12.24%

BJ Services Co. (BJS), Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI)

Premium offered: $0.28 or 1.35%
Acquirer: BHI
Target: BJS
Offer per share: 0.40035 share and $2.69 per share
Value of offer per share: $20.90
Value of outstanding common equity securities: $6,104,699,806
Acquirer share price: $45.48
Target share price: $20.62
Expected closing: N/A
Annualized gain: N/A
Note: BJS and BHI received a second request from the U.S. Justice Department
for additional information about their proposed merger. The cos said they
would comply with the request promptly.

Black & Decker Corp. (BDK), Stanley Works (SWK)

Premium offered: $0.74 or 1.06%
Acquirer: SWK
Target: BDK
Shares offered per share: 1.275 share
Value of offer per share: $70.57
Value of outstanding common equity: $4,246,272,113
Acquirer share price: $55.35
Target share price: $69.83
Expected closing: N/A
Annualized gain: N/A
Note: Both Companies’ boards and the have approved the deal and SWK
shareholders will hold a small majority stake in the combined company, at
50.5%. Deal also gets anti-trust OK.

BPW Acquisition Corp. (BPW), Talbots Inc. (TLB)

Premium offered: $0.45 or 4.18%
Acquirer: TLB
Target: BPW
Shares offered per share: 1.086 share
Value of offer per share: $11.25
Value of outstanding common equity: $463,314,533
Acquirer share price: $10.36
Target share price: $10.80
Expected closing: N/A
Annualized gain: N/A
Note: BPW units consist of one share of BPW and one warrant to buy BPW
stock. Unitholders will receive between 0.9 and 1.3235 Talbots shares per
BPW share, and the warrants will be converted on a 50/50 basis into either
new Talbots warrants or new shares of Talbots, whose worth depends on
Talbots’ stock price. Upon completion, BPW unitholders would own between
60.4% and 69.1% of the merged company, which will continue trading under
Talbots’ ticker symbol. BPW shares will receive less than the $11.25
contemplated consideration if Talbots trades below $8.50, and more than that
if it trades above $12.50 when the merger closes.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. (BNI), Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A,
BRK.B)

Premium offered: $1.20 or 1.21%
Acquirer: BRK.A
Target: BNI
Offer per share: $100.00 cash and stock
Value of outstanding common equity: $34,044,000,000
Target share price: $98.80
Acquirer share price: $99,665.00
Expected closing: First Quarter 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 11.67%
Note: BNI shareholders will have the option to receive either a cash payment
of $100 or a variable number of Berkshire shares, subject to a proration if
the elections do not equal roughly 60% cash/ 40% stock. The stock component
is subject to a collar where the value of each Berkshire share received is
fixed at $100 if the price of Berkshire closes between about $80,000 and
$125,000 a share. Outside the collar, shares of BRK.A received will be fixed
at either 0.001253489 per BNI below the collar and 0.000802233 per share of
BNI above the collar. Shareholders may also choose between Class A or the
equivalent economic value of Class B Berkshire shares. The deal requires the
approval by holders of 2/3 BNI outstanding shares. Berkshire said it will
borrow roughly $8 billion to finance the transaction and shareholders of the
compnay will meet Jan. 20 to undertake a 50-to-1 split of its Class B shares.

California Micro Devices Corp. (CAMD), ON Semiconductor Corp. (ONNN)

Premium offered: $0.01 or 0.21%
Acquirer: ONNN
Target: CAMD
Offer per share: $4.70 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $107,348,000
Target share price: $4.69
Acquirer share price: $8.93
Expected closing: 1Q 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 2.02%
Note: On Semiconductor’s tender offer is expected to close Jan. 26.

Cedar Fair LP (FUN), Apollo Global Management (Private)

Premium offered: -$0.19 or -1.63%
Acquirer: Apollo Global
Target: FUN
Offer per share: $11.50 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $634,915,000
Target share price: $11.69
Acquirer share price: N/A
Expected closing: By Early 2Q 2/27/2010
Annualized gain: -11.52%

Chattem Inc. (CHTT), Sanofi-Aventis (SNY)

Premium offered: $0.44 or 0.47%
Acquirer: SNY
Target: CHTT
Offer per share: $93.50 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $1,780,240,000
Target share price: $93.06
Acquirer share price: $39.75
Expected closing: 1Q 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 4.48%

Diedrich Coffee (DDRX),Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. (GMCR)

Premium offered: $0.06 or 0.17%
Acquirer: GMCR
Target: DDRX
Offer per share: $35.00 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $200,550,000
Target share price: $34.94
Acquirer share price: $81.10
Expected closing: Early 2010 4/1/2010
Annualized gain: 0.75%
Note: After a lengthy bidding war with Peet’s Coffee & Tea Inc. (PEET),
Green Mountain comes out on top with the highest offer and takes over DDRX.
Green Mountain expects to close the transaction promptly in early 2010. The
deal provides for a graduated reverse break-up fee, starting at $8.517
million for a termination before Feb. 15 and increases by $1 million in each
subsequent 60-day period through June 15.

ICT Group Inc. (ICTG), Sykes Enterprises Inc. (SYKE)

Premium offered: $0.02 or 0.11%
Acquirer: SYKE
Target: ICTG
Offer per share: 0.3423 share and $7.69 per share
Value of offer per share: $16.37
Value of outstanding common equity securities: $2,774,749,217
Acquirer share price: $25.35
Target share price: $16.35
Expected closing: 2/2/2010
Annualized gain: 1.49%
Note: Each issued and outstanding share of ICTG will be converted into $7.69
in cash and SYKES stock with a value of $7.69, subject to a collar
mechanism. If the average SYKE share price is at/above $22.4652, the
exchange ratio will be 0.3423 SYKE share per ICTG share; at/below $19.3306,
the ratio becomes 0.3978 SYKE share per ICTG share. ICTG sets Feb. 2 as
voting date on the merger.

IMS Health (RX), TPG Capital (Private)

Premium offered: $0.60 or 2.80%
Acquirer: TPG Capital
Target: RX
Offer per share: $22.00 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $4,013,680,000
Target share price: $21.40
Expected closing: By End of 1Q 2010 2/16/2010
Annualized gain: 25.58%
Note: The deal includes the assumption of RX debt and has yet to be approved
by shareholders of the company. A special meeting will be held Feb. 8
regarding the merger.

Iowa Telecommunication Services Inc. (IWA), Windstream Corp. (WIN)

Premium offered: -$0.10 or -0.60%
Acquirer: WIN
Target: IWA
Offer per share: 0.804 share and $7.90 per share
Value of offer per share: $16.75
Value of outstanding common equity securities: $549,623,881
Acquirer share price: $11.01
Target share price: $16.85
Expected closing: mid 2010 4/1/2010
Annualized gain: -2.63%
Note: The boards of both companies have approve the deal and hope to close
it in mid-2010.

MPS Group Inc. (MPS), Adecco Group (Private)

Premium offered: $0.03 or 0.22%
Acquirer: Adecco
Target: MPS
Offer per share: $13.80 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $1,285,332,000
Target share price: $13.77
Acquirer share price: N/A
Expected closing: First Quarter 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 2.09%
Note:EU Commission cleared the Adecco/MPS deal on 12/18 as MPS also settles
shareholder lawsuits.

On2 Technologies Inc. (ONT), Google Inc. (GOOG)

Premium offered: $0.01 or 1.50%
Acquirer: GOOG
Target: ONT
Offer per share: 0.001 share and $0.15 per share
Value of offer per share: $0.75
Value of outstanding common equity securities: $131,981,589
Acquirer share price: $601.99
Target share price: $0.74
Expected closing: N/A
Annualized gain: N/A
Note: On2 shareholders file lawsuit against Google Aug. 10 claiming the
deal’s price tag was unfair. In December, ONT adjourned shareholder meeting
several times and a month later the companies amended the merger agreement
so ONT holders would receive 15 cents a share in cash in addition to .0010
shares of Google stock. The amendement accounts for the rise in Google’s
stock price since the merger was announced in August. ONT holders will
reconvene Feb. 17 to consider the deal.

PepsiAmericas Inc. (PAS), PepsiCo Inc. (PEP)

Premium offered: $0.16 or 0.53%
Acquirer: PEP
Target: PAS
Offer per share: 0.2511 share and $14.25 per share
Value of offer per share: $29.52
Value of outstanding common equity securities: $3,674,591,142
Acquirer share price: $60.82
Target share price: $29.37
Expected closing: Early 2010 2/16/2015
Annualized gain: 0.10%
Note: Under the agreement, PAS shareholders have the option to select either
$28.50 in cash or 0.5022 shares of PEP stock. EU approves the deal.

Pepsi Bottling Group Inc. (PBG), PepsiCo Inc. (PEP)

Premium offered: $0.21 or 0.56%
Acquirer: PEP
Target: PBG
Offer per share: 0.3216 share and $18.25 per share
Value of offer per share: $37.81
Value of outstanding common equity securities: $8,147,236,742
Acquirer share price: $60.82
Target share price: $37.60
Expected closing: Early 2010 2/16/2010
Annualized gain: 5.09%
Note: Under the agreement, PBG shareholders have the option to select either
$36.50 in cash or 0.6432 shares of PEP stock. EU approves deal.

Quixote Corp. (QUIX), Trinity Industries Inc. (TRN)

Premium offered: $0.05 or 0.79%
Acquirer: TRN
Target: QUIX
Offer per share: $6.38 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $59,525,400
Target share price: $6.33
Acquirer share price: N/A
Expected closing: 1Q 2010 2/14/2010
Annualized gain: 7.49%

Silicon Storage Technology Inc. (SSTI), Prophet Equity LP

Premium offered: -$0.48 or -18.60%
Acquirer: Prophet Equity LP
Target: SSTI
Offer per share: $2.10 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $201,285,000
Target share price: $2.58
Acquirer share price: N/A
Expected closing: 2Q 2010 5/16/2010
Annualized gain: -52.64%
Note: Deal has been approved by the SSTI board. The CEO, COO have agreed to
exchange their shares for shares in the resulting private company. SSTI has
45 days from the start of the tender offer to shop around for a higher bid.
A committee representing a 13.1% stake in SSTI said on 1/4/2010 it would
vote against the merger. A Full Value Committee has said it oppses the SSTI
merger with Prophet Equity.

Sun Microsystems Inc. (JAVA), Oracle Corp. (ORCL)

Premium offered: $0.12 or 1.28%
Acquirer: ORCL
Target: JAVA
Offer per share: $9.50 cash
Value of outstanding common equity: $7,074,650,000
Target share price: $9.38
Acquirer share price: $24.35
Expected closing: N/A
Annualized gain: N/A
Note: The U.S. Justice Department cleared the way for Oracle’s acquisition
of Sun Microsystems about a month after Sun’s shareholders approved the
deal. Oracle withdrew its application for clearance in Russia where
authorities are unwilling to approve the deal ahead of a decision from the
European Commission. The EC objected to the deal, saying Sun’s MySQL
database software would reduce competition in the database market. The
European Union later extended its review of the deal to the end of Jan.
after Oracle asked for the extension to allow it more time to respond to the
concerns the Commission voiced. A bipartisan group of U.S. senators have
been urging the European Commission to speed up its investigation into the
ORCL/JAVA deal, saying JAVA’s financial position has become more precarious
as the EC’s inquiry has continued. Oracle’s Chief Executive Larry Ellison
has said he’s willing to create a separate entity to house its MySQL open
database business in order to placate European regulators and follow through
with the acquisition.

Source ow Jones Newswires

Dazu haben insbesondere die internationalen Eigenkapitalregeln für Banken, im Fachjargon Basel II, beigetragen. Die Bonitätsnoten bestimmen, mit wie viel Kapital eine Bank den Besitz von Krediten und Wertpapieren unterlegen muss. Vor allem bei komplexen, also verbrieften, Wertpapieren ist dieser Weg praktisch alternativlos. Verankert in zahllosen Anlagerichtlinien und Verordnungen für Fonds und Versicherer legen Ratings auch für die meisten anderen Finanzmarktakteure fest, welche Wertpapiere käuflich sind und was ein Ladenhüter bleiben muss.
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Die Hauptschuld daran trägt die Politik. Erst hat sie die Ratings durch gewinnorientierte Firmen zum festen Bestandteil der Finanzmarktaufsicht gemacht. Und nun unterlässt sie jeden ernsthaften Versuch, Alternativen auszuloten.
–
Neulich berichtete der Fondsmanager einer großen Kapitalanlagegesellschaft, sein Arbeitgeber biete institutionellen Anlegern an, die Anlagerichtlinien nicht allein an Ratings, sondern auch an weiteren Risikoparametern auszurichten. Leider liegt die Nachfrage bislang quasi bei null. Der Grund: Die angesprochenen institutionellen Investoren – Pensionskassen, Versicherer, Banken – sind selbst aufsichtsrechtlich an Ratings gebunden. So erstickt die regulatorische Allgegenwart von Ratings neue Ansätze schon im Keim.

Aufseher zementieren die Macht der Ratings (bei Handelsblatt.com am 05.01.2010 veröffentlicht)

Tokyo Stock Exchange to pick up speed with new trading system in 2010

The Tokyo Stock Exchange will launch a new high-speed trading system Monday, scrapping an antiquated, glitch-prone platform for one that aims to compete with major global rivals.
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which can process trades in five milliseconds. That is 600 times faster than the two to three-seconds required until now, and roughly on par with its counterparts in New York and London.
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With the upgrade, the exchange hopes to lure traders who use automated computer programs to make rapid and frequent transactions. Algorithmic trading, commonly used by institutional investors like pension funds, accounts for the majority of equity trading in the U.S. and Europe but has been slow to catch on in Asia.