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Monday, October 01, 2007

Citi: Music Stops, Prince Visits Confessional

by Calculated Risk on 10/01/2007 10:16:00 AM

From MarketWatch: Big write-downs to slash Citi's quarterly net 60% (hat tip Lyle)

Citigroup Inc said Monday it expects ... huge write-downs for unsold debt it issued to finance corporate takeovers and for big losses on the value of subprime mortgage-backed securities.
...
The decline "was driven primarily by weak performance in fixed-income credit-market activities, write-downs in leveraged loan commitments, and increases in consumer-credit costs," Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince said in a statement.

Earlier Monday, Swiss banking giant UBS said it will take a hit of 4 billion Swiss francs ($3.4 billion) in the third quarter from its subprime mortgage exposure and plans sweeping management changes and job cuts at its investment-banking division.

Citi sees a write-down of $1.4 billion pretax, net of underwriting fees, on funded and unfunded loans for clients doing leveraged buyouts.
...
Citi also cut the value of its mortgage-related positions, as rival Wall Street investment banks did last month.

It said it expects losses of $1.3 billion pretax, net of hedges, on the value of subprime mortgage-backed securities warehoused for certain securitizations, and $600 million pretax in fixed-income credit trading due to significant market volatility and the disruption of historical pricing relationships.
I guess the music has stopped.
“As long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance. When the music stops, in terms of liquidity, things will be complicated.”
Chairman and Chief Executive Charles Prince, July 2007