SEC targets Citi in auction rate probe
By Francesco Guerrera and Joanna Chung in New York and,Sundeep Tucker
Published: August 2 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 2 2008 03:00
Citigroup is the target of a formal probe by US regulators over its role in the failure of the $330bn auction rate securities market, one of the biggest casualties of the credit crunch, the US financial group revealed yesterday.
Citi said in a regulatory filing that, like other banks, it had received subpoenas and requests for information from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is investigating whether "federal securities laws have been violated in connection with the sale of ARS", the filing said.
Citi also disclosed that it had received subpoenas from state regulators in New York, Texas and Massachusetts and that some of its troubled hedge funds had been the target of a separate request for information by the SEC.
The disclosure comes as regulators are widening their probes into the collapse of the market for the troubled securities. ARS are long-term debt instruments sold by municipalities and other issuers, whose rates are periodically reset at auctions supported by banks.
The market collapsed this year as the credit crunch scared away investors and caused liquidity to dry up.
Nearly all the main investment banks are subjects of probes being conducted by more than a dozen state regulators and the SEC.
The watchdogs are looking into whether banks misled investors by representing the securities as safe and liquid. Some investors have claimed the banks went back on their implicit assurance that they would support the auctions if demand faltered.
Banks have said they had no contractual obligation to buy up unsold ARS.
Citi declined to comment on specific discussions with regulators but said that since the beginning of the ARS liquidity crisis, it had "worked diligently with issuers, investors and regulatory authorities to obtain liquidity for holders of illiquid ARS".
The US bank, which has been battered by more than $40bn in credit-related writedowns, also said regulators had sent "requests for information" about three of its hedge funds.
Separately, Citi lost another high-profile executive with the departure of Robert Morse, head of the group's investment banking and market division in Asia. Mr Morse, a 23-year Citi veteran, said he would decide what to do next after the summer.
Ajay Banga, who was recently named head of Citi's Asian unit, will take over Mr Morse's responsibilities.
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