Insiderman

WaMu Leads Regional Banks to Painful Sell-Off

And let's say an acquirer buys at 0.27 on $1 par (which Citadel paid earlier in the year). They show the assets at cost and write down only if necessary. This 0.27 assumes a 73% failure rate. Does anyone think that 73% of loans will fail?

WaMu Leads Regional Banks to Painful Sell-Off

Seems to me like an international firm could purchase WM without having to write to market under IAS 39 (see exception "a"):

"After initial recognition, an entity shall measure financial assets, including derivatives that are assets, at their fair values, without any deduction for transaction costs it may incur on sale or other disposal, except for the following financial assets:
(a) loans and receivables as defined in paragraph 9, which shall be measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method;
(b) held-to-maturity investments as defined in paragraph 9, which shall be measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method; and
(c) investments in equity instruments that do not have a quoted market price in an active market and whose fair value cannot be reliably measured and derivatives that are linked to and must be settled by delivery of such unquoted equity instruments, which shall be measured at cost (see Appendix A paragraphs AG80 and AG81)."