What's it worth?

The financial crisis has highlighted shortcomings in bank valuation practices for complex securities. With regulators clamouring for the use of independent prices, there could be an opportunity for third-party data providers. But are banks taking the valuations issue seriously enough? Joel Clark reports

The challenge of valuing structured finance securities has been exacerbated since the onset of the financial crisis, with widespread downgrades and chronic illiquidity calling into question the accuracy of bank valuation processes. With governments and regulators zeroing in on the issue, attention is turning to the growing number of independent data providers that offer valuation services for complex securities.

The question is how these valuations will be used by financial institutions. Some