The Murdoch family on the psychologist’s couch

November 2, 2011 7:39 pm by Financial Times

By Ben Fenton

In an extended Vanity Fair piece that people who know the Murdoch family say is “horrifying in its level of detail” and “strikingly accurate in most respects”, Sarah Ellison has laid out how the phone hacking scandal at one of News Corp’s UK newspapers derailed dynastic plans for the media group.

One element of a long history – the claim that the four eldest Murdoch siblings had discussed the “succession” to their father as chairman and CEO with a “family counsellor” or psychologist – stood out, both for being hard to picture and for what it says about how little other shareholders views appear to enter into the Murdoch family considerations on succession planning. (Rupert Murdoch and the elder four of his six children control 38 per cent of voting shares, but own only 12 per cent of the total equity).

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Tags: James Murdoch, News Corp, Rupert Murdoch
Posted in Business, Media | Permalink

Ben Bernanke at the FCIC: live blog, part 2

September 2, 2010 3:26 pm by Financial Times

Read part 1 of the live blog here.

By Alan Rappeport, FT reporter

11:42pm – And Mr Bernanke is out of the hot seat. That concludes our blogging for today. Sheila Bair, chairman of the FDIC, will be testifying this afternoon.

11:40am – Mr Bernanke acknowledged that mark-to-market may have exacerbated rapidly falling asset prices but that does not mean it should be abandoned at the expense of accurate accounting.

11:38am – Putting his accounting cap on, Mr Bernanke said that mark-to-market accounting increased the “pro-cyclicality” of the system, but said it is important to do our best to get market prices for assets that have markets. “I’m in favour of accurate accounting but I think there are sometimes problems when markets are very illiquid.” However, he is very cautious about applying fair value accounting to long-term loans of banks.

Continue reading: “Ben Bernanke at the FCIC: live blog, part 2″

Tags: Ben Bernanke, FCIC, The Fed
Posted in Banks | Permalink

Ben Bernanke at the FCIC: live blog

September 2, 2010 11:27 am by Financial Times

By Alan Rappeport, FT reporter

We’ve set up a new post now, so please stay with us.

10:15am – Discussing some counterfactuals, Mr Bernanke said he does not know how to stop bank runs through “cheery words”.

10:11am – Mr Bernanke said the Fed needs a more “inter-disciplinary” approach, with more finance people, economists and lawyers to make sure it has a full picture of risk.

10:04am – Mr Holtz-Eakin brings up Mr Bernanke’s famous remarks that troubles in the housing market would not spill over into the rest of the economy. Mr Bernanke said that the loss of $300bn – $400bn in equity was not a big deal relative to the size of the world economy, but did not recognize the extent of the systems falls and weakness that would amplify the subprime shock.

10:01am – Mr Bernanke reiterates his points about over-optimism about housing prices and “sketchy” mortgage lending innovations. “Of course prices couldn’t rise forever and once prices stopped rising the whole process unwound,” he said. The Fed chair also pointed to the fact that the US has been a net recipient of global capital flows and how that demand created the incentive to devise new, complex financial products related to the housing market.

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Tags: Ben Bernanke, FCIC, The Fed
Posted in Banks, Finance | Permalink

Live blog: Christopher Cox, ex SEC, at the FCIC

May 5, 2010 7:56 pm by Financial Times

By Alan Rappeport, economics and business reporter

This page should update automatically every few minutes

5:41pm – Meeting adjourned.

5:40pm – The Commission has been going in circles for a little while now and vice-chair Thomas just went on a rant about the roots of the crisis. “I’m done raving,” he said, as the meeting inches to a close.

5:20pm – Mr Sirri said he had conversations with people about market manipulation surrounding Bear’s collapse, but said he never had anything that was specific enough to follow up on.

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Posted in Business | Permalink

Live blog: Jimmy Cayne, ex Bear Stearns, at FCIC

May 5, 2010 5:18 pm by Financial Times

By Alan Rappeport, economics and business reporter

This page should update automatically every few minutes

2:35pm – 10 minute break until the next panel.

2:32pm – It does seem that your firm and other firms were engaged in activities that put the financial system at risk, Mr Angelides said. Mr Cayne, in hindsight, agreed. The more verbal Mr Schwartz spreads the blame but said Bear played a role.

2:29pm – Back to Mr Angelides, the chair rejects the notion that 99.9 per cent of the world had no idea that the housing market was near collapse. He said that a bank like bear would never tell investors that it had no idea about the future and that there were plenty of clues that housing was overvalued.

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Tags: FCIC
Posted in Banks | Permalink

The SEC’s strange timing over Goldman

April 30, 2010 11:27 am by Financial Times

By Brooke Masters, chief regulation correspondent

UPDATE: It turns out that the Deparment of Justice asked for the file. The SEC didn’t make the referral. The DoJ request came after 62 members of Congress wrote to Eric Holder, attorney-general asking the DoJ to investigate Goldman.

The reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post that criminal prosecutors are now looking at the mortgage deal at the heart of the US Securities and Exchange Commission case against Goldman Sachs raise a key question: Why now?

The SEC is said formally to have referred the case to the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Such a step would not be unusual, but the timing would be.

Ordinarily, the SEC sends its evidence to prosecutors before filing its civil charges, not afterwards. That way, if the Justice Department does want to bring a criminal case, the two actions can be filed simultaneously. There are lots of good procedural reasons for doing it this way, so the two cases do not interfere with one another.

So, why act now?

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Tags: Goldman
Posted in Banks | Permalink

Blankfein at the Senate hearing into Goldman Sachs

April 27, 2010 10:19 pm by Financial Times

Times are given in US EST.

By Alan Rappeport

8:42pm – And nearly 11 hours after the hearings began, that’s a wrap.

8:35pm – The audience appears to be thinning in the meeting room. Mr Levin is giving his closing statement, giving one last run down of how the entire financial crisis ensued, for the record. Mr Blankfein’s face is locked in a squint and he is clutching his water glass. “I happen to be one that believes in a free market, but if it’s going to be free…it’s got to be free of deception. It needs a cop on the beat of Wall Street.”

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Tags: Blankfein, Goldman Sachs
Posted in Banks, Business | Permalink

Goldman Sachs hearing: latest news

April 27, 2010 3:06 pm by Financial Times

Refresh this page for the latest updates. Times are given in US EST

By Alan Rappeport

3:13pm – The committee has excused the witnesses after an exhaustive array of questioning. The Goldman witnesses appeared to hold their own, often frustrating the Senators who probed aggressively. There will be a 10 minute recess before David Viniar, CFO, and Craig Broderick, chief risk officer, take the stage. We’ll return for the third panel featuring Lloyd Blankfein.

3:03pm – Mr Levin is returning to the bigger question of conflicts of interest. “For heavens sake, clients should know that when you are selling securities, that you are betting against those securities. I think it is intolerable and it needs to be addressed,” he said.

Continue reading: “Goldman Sachs hearing: latest news”

Tags: Blankfein, Goldman Sachs
Posted in Banks | Permalink

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