Goldman Sachs faces the wrath of regulators over a portfolio called Abacus.
Now Morgan Stanley is taking fire over its role in creating the "Dead Presidents."
The Wall Street Journal is reporting Wednesday that Morgan Stanley is being investigated by market watchdogs for creating a portfolio of credit derivatives, then betting against the package. The "Dead Presidents" nickname reflects the fact that the portfolios in question were named after U.S. Presidents James Buchanan and Andrew Jackson. The portfolios were sold by two other banks, UBS and Citigroup, according to the newspaper.
Morgan Stanley executives said they have no knowledge of the investigation, and that internal reviews found there were no issues with the "Dead President" transactions, according to the New York newspaper.
Wall Street was expecting this sort of news - if regulators were going to target Goldman Sachs for its behavior in the market meltdown, you knew they would also turn their attention to other iconic dealers.
According to the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, traders are saying that "Morgan Stanley arranged and marketed to investors pools of bond-related investments called "collateralized debt obligations," or CDOs, and its trading desk at times placed bets that their value would fall."
As with Goldman Sachs, federal investigators are looking at Morgan Stanley's disclosure around these portfolios.
Andrew Willis