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Strategies & Market Trends : The Residential Real Estate Crash Index -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CalculatedRisk who wrote (92773)	10/24/2007 7:51:02 AM
From: ChanceIs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 306849

Merrill Lynch Discloses Bigger Write-Downs A WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE NEWS ROUNDUP October 24, 2007 7:44 a.m. Merrill Lynch said it would take write-downs of $7.9 billion for collateralized debt obligations and U.S. subprime mortgages, significantly greater than what it forecast earlier this month. More details are expected shortly. Merrill announced on Oct. 5 that it expected to write down $5 billion for the quarter that ended in September, the biggest such loss of any Wall Street firm, based mainly on an over-exposure to risky mortgage-related securities. The result will be pressure on Chief Executive Stan O'Neal, who ousted two top bond executives three weeks ago when the extent of the losses became apparent, to make further changes. Among those whose roles in the losses are likely to come under greater scrutiny will be Co-President Ahmass L. Fakahany, who backed the appointment in mid-2006 of the bond-management team that generated the losses, and Chief Financial Officer Jeff Edwards, who played a role in oversight of the valuation and risk levels of the firm's holdings. Mr. O'Neal's own job could be in jeopardy depending on the actions he takes to reassure Merrill's board, which met over the past weekend, that his understanding and management of the firm's risk levels has improved. At the end of July, with a midsummer credit crunch under way, he sent a memo to reassure Merrill employees that the firm's risk level was under control.