Spin of the Week.....Citigroup’s SIV Overseers

Isn´t it refreshing when everybody is calling for more transparency the persons / institutions concerned are heading way too often in the opposite direction...... A big hat tip to the Financial Times that once more trumps the often superficial WSJ! Click on the headline to read the entire report.

Ist es nicht nett anzusehen wenn die ganze Welt nach mehr Transparenz im Finanzchaos sucht und sobald es ans Eingemachte geht die betroffenen Akteure "höchst fragwürdige" Auskünfte geben.... Einmal mehr großen Dank an die Financial Times die mal wieder deutlich die Nase vorm allzu oft oberflächlich berichtenden WSJ hat. Klickt wie üblich auf die Überschrift um den ganzen Bericht zu lesen.
In a letter seen by the WS Journal, Citigroup’s SIV overseers, Paul Stephens and Richard Burrows, said that:

Quite simply, portfolio quality is extremely high and we have no credit concerns about any of the constituent assets… SIVs remain robust and their asset portfolios are performing well.

But look at the filings with the London Stock Exchange, and you will see that Citi’s SIVs have seen declines in portfolio net asset value of 17-20 per cent in the past few months, which doesn’t quite sit comfortably with Stephens and Burrows assertion that “asset portfolios are performing well”.

Citi’s SIVs certainly do contain some very strong assets - their direct subprime exposure is accordingly, minimal, and a large chunk of their portfolios is rated highly. SIV managers are trying to stress the quality of their portfolios over their current values. But in a market such as this, that doesn’t necessarily matter, because a whole range of assets are suffering from contagion and fear.