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The article discusses India's market regulator proposing a relaxed framework for illiquid investments in alternative investment funds (AIFs) and venture capital funds (VCFs) when their tenure expires, aiming to address challenges in managing unliquidated investments.

It wasrecently decided that such project funding, which earlierwas available when NWF's liquid assets exceeded 7 % ofGDP, is now available if the value of the NWF liquidassets exceed 10 % of GDP. BOFIT Viikkokatsaus / BOFIT Weekly 2022/05 The value of the assets in the National Welfare Fund(NWF) stood at $182.6 billion at the end of 2021. First, the value of NWF assets fell in the finalmonths of 2021 due to a drop in the price of Sberbankshares owned by the NWF (Sberbank shares represent abouta quarter of total NWF assets). [Extracted from the article]

The article discusses a lawsuit filed by the organization the Public Sector Pension Investment Board of Canada against hedge fund Saba Capital manager Boaz Weinstein based on a claim that it received about $12 million less than it was owed for illiquid assets improperly manipulated by Weinstein. The article states that the case illustrated the possible risks of a liquidity panic that could lead to another early 21st century financial crisis. The article presents comments from bond investor William H. Gross.

The article reports that Harvard University's endowment seeks to sell up to $500 million of its $5 billion real-estate portfolio. In an effort to avoid cash shortages that materialize amid a 2008 financial crisis, Harvard seeks to reduce its holdings of illiquid assets. Endowment manager Jane Mendillo says the university's real-estate investments declined more than 50% in value during 2009.

The article reports that the endowments of both Harvard University and Yale University fell 30% in value during the year ending in June, 2009. Both institutions were hurt by investments in relatively illiquid assets such as private-equity partnerships. Budget reductions and delays in capital spending have followed in the wake of the losses.

The article discusses efforts by members of the U.S. Congress to persuade the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to change its rules about evaluating illiquid assets. At the behest of a banking lobbying group, Representative Paul Kanjorski and others pressured FASB into dropping the requirement that such assets be valued at market prices.

The article reports that U.S. banks seek permission to participate in the government's Public Private Investment Program (PPIP) as buyers. PPIP was established to encourage purchases by private investors of illiquid assets held by banks. It is not clear if regulators including the Treasury Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will allow banks to be active in PPIP as both buyers and sellers.

The article discusses BlackRock Inc.'s role in ameliorating an ongoing financial crisis. Although the firm has been chosen by the U.S. government to analyze prices for illiquid assets held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it is also competing to buy similar assets from banks using taxpayers' money. Financial consultant Janet Tavakoli is among those who believe such a dual role is inappropriate.

The article reports developments in the U.S. government's $70 billion bailout of the financial industry. Treasury secretary Henry Paulson said the government would invest in banks rather than buy their illiquid assets. He also indicated efforts would be made to help consumers in the areas of student and auto loans, credit cards, and mortgages.

The article reports that the financial services firm J.P. Morgan Chase has agreed to purchase the troubled firm of Bear Stearns at the extraordinarily low price of $2 a share, or about $236 million. The deal was seen as Bear Stearns' only alternative to bankruptcy. It was facilitated by a U.S. Federal Reserve Board agreement to provide $30 billion in financing for Bear Stearns illiquid assets such as mortgage-backed securities.

The article reports on the impact the near collapse of two hedge funds from Bear Stearns Cos.; the High Grade Structured Strategies Fund and High Grade Structured Credit Strategies Enhanced Leverage Fund, has had on companies and investors in the U.S. that are involved in the trading of illiquid assets.

The article reports on a lawsuit filed by Companion Property & Casualty Insurance Co. against U.S. Bancorp as of March 2015 for failing to prevent the insurer's funds from being replaced with illiquid or worthless assets which is another scandal involving financier Alexander Chatfield Burns.

The article presents the author's view regarding banks' tendencies to hide their portfolios and focus on hard-to-value assets and how when investors can see the performance of a bank's assets, its liabilities become volatile and illiquid, with details of U.S. loan balances.

The article discusses five things for donors to consider when shifting a foundation's assets to a donor-advised fund, including state regulations in regard to requirements for a status change, leaving enough money to cover dissolution costs, and managing illiquid assets.

The article discusses a plan by Spain and euro-zone regulators to segregate impaired assets held by Spanish banks inside of a government-supported "bad bank," and notes challenges faced by auditors in determining the true value of such illiquid assets.

The article presents pieces of advice for wealthy people on managing their finances during economic crisis. It says that rich individuals should not keep more than 25 per cent of their money in one illiquid asset. It recommends them to avoid having debts that exceed 25 per cent of their total net worth. The author suggests that they develop a spending bucket that will help them in the management of liquid investments.

The author focuses on the factors investors should look out for in the balance sheets of banks, including the disclosures on holdings of illiquid assets.

Barclays, the British banking giant, said Wednesday that it had sold $12.3 billion of illiquid assets to a fund set up by former executives of the bank to reduce its vulnerability to swings in the credit markets. The sale to Protium Finance, a fund run by two former employees, Stephen King and Michael Keeley, is being financed by a $12.6 billion loan from Barclays and $450 million mainly from two unidentified investors in Britain and the United States. Mr. King once led Barclays' principal mortgage trading group, and Mr. Keeley was a member of Barclays Capital's management committee. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the restriction imposed by hedge-fund managers on investors in the U.S., that limits the withdrawal of money from hedge fund transactions. Managers such as Citadel Investment Group LLC, Harbinger Capital Partners LLC and GLG Partners LP argued that the restriction was made to protect investors from unloading illiquid assets. The assets will be returned to investors when the market provides them with good returns.

The article focuses on the details being work out by German government on a plan to pool toxic assets into multiple bad banks. The preferred strategy German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück's would see the government taking over illiquid assets and the banks slowly shouldering the bulk of risks from those that are toxic.

This articles reports that German Finance Ministry is to consider whether to set up a bad bank to absorb the illiquid assets of banks in order to help restart lending activity. The Finance Ministry is schedule to hold a meet on April 21, 2009 to decide the matter. It explains that the German government has been discussing the problem of how to rid the banking system of illiquid assets. The idea has gained credence after Ireland became the first euro-zone country to use an industry-wide bank-bank plan.

The article reports that Swiss bank UBS AG has warned deeper financial loss for 2008 and an extremely cautious profit outlook for 2009. The bank's net loss for 2008 was raised by 1.9 billion Swiss francs to 20.89 billion francs. The additional net loss is from $780 million needed to settle a tax-fraud probe with the U.S. authorities. It also includes an estimated 300 million francs in extra writedown on nearly $40 billion of illiquid assets that will be transferred to a fund managed by the Swiss National Bank.

The article reports on the change of rules by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) on its Commercial Paper Funding Facility. The agency said that the facility is aimed at buying commercial paper to help companies that were already dependent on such short-term funding when the market froze in 2008. The Fed announced that the facility will not purchase asset-backed commercial paper from issuers trying to revive structured-investment vehicles, which were filled with illiquid assets financed by cheap, short-term debt.

The article reports on the sale of UBS AG's 1.3% stake in Bank of China (BOC) for $808 million in January 2009. It is said that the Swiss Bank sold 3.38 billion shares to 15 participants at a 12% discount to the Chinese bank's December 31, 2008 closing price of 2.12 Hong Kong dollar. According to the article, the sale comes after UBS had accepted Swiss government funds, which will include as much as $60 billion in illiquid assets.

Hedge funds have suffered a shakeout in 2008. The average hedge fund fell almost 20 percent, according to Hedge Fund Research. No fund has yet required a bailout. But many won't be around in the new year, and those that have survived are battered and bruised. Hedge fund managers must accept that the industry won't be quite the same again. Here are six changes they need to prepare for: Liquidity is the new watchword. Like investment banks, hedge funds didn't think much about the structure of their financing during the boom times. But a flood of redemption requests in late 2008, just as they were struggling with illiquid markets and scarce credit, caught them out. Many hedge funds annoyed their investors by blocking withdrawals. In the future, funds that invest in illiquid assets will need to lock in their investors for longer. And those wishing to give investors regular access to their money will have to focus on liquid markets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports on the plan of Credit Suisse to use illiquid assets to pay bonuses for some of its top executives as of December 2008. According to the author, this move puts the burden on other banks, which made claims that investors are putting irrational values on many of their assets, to follow suit.

The article reports on a series of initiatives being considered by the incoming administration of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to combat the financial crisis, including a plan to overhaul the Troubled Asset Relief Program. The initiatives also include injecting more capital into banks and creating a market for illiquid assets clogging the books of financial institutions. Obama was briefed by members of his economic team on ways to address the financial crisis.

The article discusses the highlights of the presentation of the task force priority discussion on finance and the U.S. economy for the Obama administration during the "Wall Street Journal's" November 2008 Chief Executive Officers (CEO) Council. Chief executives agreed that U.S. president elect Barack Obama needs to shore up confidence before he takes office and implement a quick fiscal stimulus to address short-term weakness and stabilize employment. They added purchase of illiquid assets, economic vision, and tax policy on their recommendations.

The American Bankers Association asked the Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday to override accounting rule makers' new guidelines on mark-to-market accounting, saying they still relied too heavily on distressed asset values. The staff of the Financial Accounting Standards Board released guidelines on Friday intended to formalize a Sept. 30 joint clarification with the S.E.C. that said banks could rely on internal estimates, rather than deeply discounted market prices, to value assets in illiquid markets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article questions the balance sheet items at Wells Fargo bank based in San Francisco, California, particularly its level three assets. The author acknowledges the bank's ability to have avoided the subprime loans fiasco like J.P. Morgan Chase. He, however, mentions illiquid assets called level three assets by Wells Fargo which he claims have not been properly accounted for by the bank and which the bank is seemingly silent about.

The article reports that Wall Street banks should proceed with caution when considering assigning higher values to assets locked into their financial statements. The recent rebound in the credit market may not be sufficient reason to increase value. The improvements in the credit market are principally due to technical factors rather than fundamental improvements. Accounting rules permit banks to use their judgment when assigning values to illiquid assets but, with their weak credibility, it is sensible for banks to remain with conservative values.

The article focuses on the twice-yearly Financial Stability Report of the Bank of England for release on May 1, 2008. In the report, the bank states that the realized losses of banks on illiquid assets are not going to be as large as current market prices suggest. The use of market prices that include large discounts for uncertainty and illiquidity to measure potential write-offs has resulted in the perception that banks have still to fully disclose their losses. This in turn has led to a lack of confidence among banks.

The article focuses on issues related to finance. It says that the practice of regulators to approach bigger institutions to acquire weaker firms when crises hit the banking industry in the past years have helped spread capital and fill in any gaps across the financial system. Meanwhile, there is an increasing number of illiquid investment-bank holdings of assets.

The article reports that the three major credit rating firms reduced their rankings on UBS AG by one notch after the bank reported an additional $19 billion in write-downs on illiquid realty assets in 2008. According to Standard & Poor's Ratings Group, the first quarter total should reduce the likelihood of more write-downs in future quarters. Fitch Ratings announced that the write-downs will possibly make UBS unprofitable for the second straight year, while Moody's Investors Service said that the write-downs weakened the financial flexibility of UBS.

The article reports on a guidance from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which gives public companies more leeway to value asset-backed securities in cases where market prices or other relevant pricing information are not available. It emphasizes the need for firms that depend on unobservable inputs to value illiquid asset-backed securities in order to determine if it will affect the financial results. SEC urges firms to provide more disclosure on risky assets and liabilities.

Discusses financial planning and illiquid assets such as lottery winnings and annuities, and how to unload illiquidity.