An Australian Federal Court judge has ruled against rating agency Standard & Poor’s and the wholesale division of Dutch bank ABN AMRO for their role in the sale of “grotesquely complicated” financial products which plummeted in value during the global financial crisis.
The suit was brought by 12 municipalities in New South Wales that are seeking to recover more than $15 million in losses after purchasing synthetic derivatives known as constant proportion debt obligations, or CPDOs, which were created by ABN AMRO’s wholesale division and given S&P’s highest AAA rating in 2006. Local Government Financial Services (LGFS), an investment manager for local government authorities that sold CPDOs to the 12 municipalities, is also a defendant in the case.
