Getting your player ready...
WASHINGTON — The $62 trillion market for credit- default swaps, created to protect banks from loan losses, helped fuel a near- meltdown in the financial system and now may be regulated for the first time.
The derivatives precipitated plunges in the shares and debt of Wall Street firms, accelerating the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and the U.S. takeover of American International Group Inc.
Now, regulators want to bring oversight to a part of the credit market that may be more susceptible to manipulation than selling stocks short, according to Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox.
