asset backed securities

Some of Wall Street's financial titans are facing lawsuits from equally formidable foes: Billionaire Len Blavatnick is suing JPMorgan Chase for losing $100 million of his money in subprime mortgages, and Norway is suing Citigroup for misrepresenting its financial condition to boost its stock price.

The market for asset-backed securities has reopened after being frozen for a week. It's the first example of how unintended consequences from the Dodd-Frank overhaul can create mischief in the financial markets. Are bigger changes coming?

CDOs were a way for investment banks to evade their capital requirements, just as asset-backed securities played a similar role for savings and loan institutions in the 1980s. This time around the banks had plenty of help, especially from fee-hungry credit agencies.

The SEC voted 5-0 to issue proposed rules covering the $2 trillion-plus asset-backed securities market on Wednesday. Chairman Mary Schapiro called it a "fundamental revision" in how ABS would be regulated. A key change is requiring more disclosure about the loans bundled into deals.

I have to hand it to Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Chairwoman Sheila Bair: The former University of Massachusetts economics professor gets it right on key policy issues. She's right about ending the doctrine of too-big-to-fail, and now she's proposing an idea that I've been pushing with no effect...