Bank probes expanding with new investigation

2010-05-13



Bank probes expanding with new investigation


(Reuters) - U.S. authorities are expanding their probes of past mortgage securities deals, with New York's attorney general opening an investigation into whether eight banks misled rating agencies, a source familiar with the matter said.


New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's office on Wednesday served subpoenas on four U.S. banks and four European lenders, the source said.

Cuomo is targeting Citigroup, Credit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Morgan Stanley, UBS and Merrill Lynch, now owned by Bank of America, the source said.

The investigation comes as Wall Street and major banks around the world are attracting scrutiny from regulators stemming from transactions that occurred in the run-up to the subprime mortgage meltdown and financial crisis.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that U.S. federal prosecutors, working with securities regulators, were conducting a preliminary criminal probe into whether four banks misled investors about their roles in mortgage bond deals.

The banks under early-stage criminal scrutiny are JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and UBS, the newspaper reported on its website, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The banks have also received civil subpoenas from the U.S. Securities and Exchanges Commission as part of a sweeping investigation of banks' selling and trading of mortgage-related deals, the report said.

A spokesman for JPMorgan told the Journal the bank had not been contacted by federal prosecutors and was not aware of any criminal investigation. The other banks either declined comment or were not immediately available.

美檢察機關對華爾街數家投行展開刑事調查

《紐約 時報》引述消息人士稱，紐約司法部門正調查8間銀行，是否向評級機構，提供誤導資料，提升次按產品評級。

消息人士稱，紐約檢察總長安德魯已向8間華爾街大行，發出傳票，進行調查，涉及銀行包括高盛、摩根士丹利 、花旗、瑞信、德銀、美林 、瑞銀及東方匯理等。

美國 證券交易委員會已民事起訴高盛，涉嫌隱瞞資料，誤導客戶。而紐約今次的調查則擴大至8間銀行，不單只涉及銀行與客戶的交易，而是涉及銀行與評級機構的關係。

當局將集中調查銀行在樓市大跌前，如何向評級機構提供資料，影響他們的按揭產品評級。市場一直批評評級機構，未能正確評價有關次按產品，令投資者受損。 涉及的標級機構包括標普、穆迪及惠譽國際。