insto - Australian financial markets

As the nightmare on Wall Street drags on, experts remain divided over what needs to be done to improve disclosure of bank assets, reports our US correspondent, Caren Chesler.

When Lehman Brothers was going under last year, more than 150 analysts were dispatched to unravel the web of counterparties in their transactions to try to get a handle on who and how much was at risk. Some say the Federal government should have been able to push a button and make that determination.

The US government is charging Angelo Mozilo, the former chief executive of the mortgage lender Countrywide Financial, and two other company executives with civil fraud. The Securities and Exchange Commission said last Thursday, 4 June (US time) that its case also accused Mozilo of illegal insider trading.