This was reported on CNN yesterday, but it’s worth mentioning here. There has been a recent trend of Wall Street firms increasing their exposure to hard-to-value assets, such as those backed by mortgages, which raises concerns about the accuracy of their balance sheets.
It might sound like an increase in assets is a positive thing for a bank. But no financial institution wants to record a big increase in illiquid assets, because pricing and selling them is difficult and, if the credit crunch persists, many of them could be a source of large losses in coming quarters.
To get a better grip on how level three assets might affect a bank, it makes sense to look at what exactly makes up level three assets, though this can be hard because of banks’ limited disclosure. In the case of Merrill, for example, we know that a sizable share of level three assets are distressed mortgages and CDOs, which are likely to be subject to further losses in the fourth quarter.
In defense of the banks, not all of these assets are backed by CDOs and subprime mortgages. Some of them are invested heavily in leveraged loans.
But even a well-resourced auditor can’t be expected to properly scrutinize the huge amount of level two and three assets sitting on banks’ balance sheets. For the seven banks Fortune surveyed, level three assets totaled over $430 billion, equivalent to 110% of the banks’ combined equity. That number will likely increase in the fourth quarter, making bank balance sheets even harder to read. Yes, that’s right: Wall Street’s black hole is getting bigger.
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