Sunday, April 13, 2008

Greed and punishment for banks and firms

Not too many people paid attention to such warnings till Gibson announced its derivatives loss


Live Mint | by Tamal Bandyopadhyay April 9, 2008

Ohio-based Gibson Greetings Inc. was caught off guard:
Banker’s Trust: We are recognizing our obligation for accounting purposes; however, it is clear that the company should never have been put in a position like this as we relied on Bankers Trust to advise us on these transactions. We have taken measures to ensure this will not happen again.”

These are the words of Benjamin J. Sottile, chairman, president and CEO of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Gibson Greetings Inc. the third largest greetings card manufacturer in the US, after the firm discovered that it had made $20 million (Rs81 crore) losses for the quarter ended March 1994 on interest rate derivatives transactions with Bankers Trust.

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