First, money is needed to place even a riskless bet. That was the scarcest of commodities after the failure of Lehman Brothers in October 2008. Second, placing a bet also requires a trustworthy bookmaker. They too were thin on the ground in the midst of crisis. In their absence, arbitrage may be more “apparent” than real. Market prices are likely to deviate from fundamentals due to liquidity and counterparty premia. By way of illustration, Chart 5 provides a decomposition of the yield on sub-investment grade corporate securities in the UK. By mid-2007 at the peak of the boom, the liquidity premium on these assets had pretty much been eliminated. By the end of 2008, this liquidity premium had risen by almost 2500 basis points. As capital markets moved from flood to drought, market prices turned from rich to poor. Fair value and financial stability Against this backdrop, what are the potential financial stability implications of using market prices as a valuation yardstick? In roughly chronological order, three main arguments have been used in defence of marking to market. Broadly, these mirror the three historic phases of fair value:   “Protecting shareholders”  During the 19th and early 20th centuries, as joint stock companies sprang up, the key purpose of company accounts was to protect shareholders’ interests. Like truth in the face of the war, in the face of crisis the financial accounts appear to have been the first casualty.

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