Morgan Stanley recently unwound credit hedges on monoline insurer MBIA at a potentially significant loss. This could hit first quarter results for Morgan Stanley’s troubled fixed income division and compound its reputation as disaster-prone, at least when it comes to credit trading.
The episode underscores the way hedging decisions by individual firms can undermine performance at other members of the club of banks that are too inter-connected to fail. And hints at a regulatory slap for Morgan Stanley from the Federal Reserve for its credit hedging policy highlight the extent to which supervisory decisions taken behind closed doors continue to affect the prospects for major banks.
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