Go directly to the latest news additions or to the chronological timeline of major credit crunch events

The list below is the largest collection of links related to the present credit crisis on the web. I have been amending this list since May 2008. But, as the list is pretty large now, I have taken care to break it up into different sections. Please use the Index to move around this post and find just what you are looking for.

I have also recently updated this list by backing it up to a database. That has allowed me to provide all of the banking crisis events in a list in reverse chronological order at the new Banking Crisis Timeline. I hope these lists are helpful.

If you need some quick background information on particular events or firms in the credit crisis, you’ve come to the right place. However, if you want a quick and dirty guide to the credit crisis, this list is not it — it is too all-encompassing. But, I have just posted a shorter version of the credit crisis that should be more accessible and a quicker read. It’s called “The Dummy’s Guide to the US Banking Crisis”.

In view of recent market turmoil, I have decided to provide a framework of the types of articles you should see here. I need to note that this list doesn’t include rumor, speculation or negotiations. The list only includes actual events in the financial services sector after they have occurred and includes the following categories.

Writedowns of assets Capital raising Job cuts Bankruptcies Ratings changes Managerial changes Earnings reports Lawsuits Some significant stock price changes

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There have been tremendous economic dislocations during the present banking crisis. Initially written off as a sub-prime crisis, leading policy makers said the crisis was contained. It has since spilled over into Jumbo mortgage rates, Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs), all asset backed securities, High Yield bonds, SIVs, the inter-bank market, commercial paper, money market funds, the auction rate market, hedge fund losses, and a massive housing bust and the real economy. Banks and financial institutions from around the world are writing down billions of dollars of losses. Housing markets are falling in the US, the UK, Spain and Ireland. This crisis is truly global.

I decided to take a look to get a comprehensive view of what this is doing to our financial system. Below is my list of major announcements of asset writedowns, bank failures, CEO dismissals, trading losses, capital raising and job losses at major global lending institutions as a direct result of the credit crisis of 2007-2008.

In addition, I have included a number of pre-crisis merger announcements that served as prelude to an increased risk taking after the deals closed and leading up to the crisis. This is not just a chronological listing of events and news in the housing bubble and credit crisis but also

a timeline of major crisis events and writedowns by financial institution. I believe it to be the most comprehensive data set on writedown statistics on the web.

a running tally of credit writedowns by global banks (now over $500 billion)

a look back at the increasing amounts of capital raised by global financial institutions

The list reaches far and wide and should give one pause as to the ability of the global financial system to recover from this calamity without significant recessionary effects in the real economy in the US and elsewhere. The losses and needed capital continually rise, with investors willing to infuse these institutions with capital time and again.

This crisis has been consistently underestimated as it gathers steam. It is far from a subprime crisis, but rather a debt or credit crisis because of the debt and deleveraging threatening global financial stability.

I update this list on a continuous basis. Check back for additions or look for writedown news under the label ‘writedowns.’ I have also added a list of Bankrupt Global Financial Institutions. I do expect this list to grow over time.

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