Then they discovered they could spice up their rather bland balance sheets by buying credit derivatives. Now for the good part - selling credit derivatives to free up lending capacity. Learning how to sell. The old firm goes its own way Bear Stearns may be steeped in banking tradition but the men who run it have been around the block. The debate 18 months on is hotting up.
Newest scapegoats are the Asian companies that overreached themselves.
The academics are thumping the table. In 1998 kudos goes to all deals to be completed in the maelstrom that became the capital markets. Award-winners tested the waters and often made it safe for deals in their wake. Argentina and Bestel also shone as issuers. Debt deals Debt deals came in big and liquid like DePfa's jumbo Pfandbrief and new and innovative like Cecchi Gori's film securitization.