In this KBRA Podcast episode, Peter Giacone and Donna Halverstadt of the Insurance ratings team discuss views on a trend in the insurance sector that receives a lot of media attention and is also a key influence on other aspects of the industry. The trend they discuss is mergers and acquisitions and the focus is primarily on how this trend is playing out in the life sector, including what impact the current pandemic could have.

In this edition of KBRA’s podcast series, Joan Feldbaum-Vidra, Head of Sovereign Ratings at KBRA, speaks with Ethan Heisler, editor-in-chief of The Bank Treasury Newsletter, about the prospects for negative rates in the U.S. and the U.K.  Ethan and Joan discuss how capital markets may be impacted by negative interest rate policy, and consider the plusses and minuses in light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic disruption.

In the first edition of the Muni Watch Podcast, Karen Daly, Head of Public Finance & Financial Guaranty, welcomes special guest Cate Long, founder of Puerto Rico Clearinghouse and Municipal Bond expert for a discussion on the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis, the role of rating agencies, and thoughts on bankruptcy and Puerto Rico. 

Ethan Heisler begins his inaugural podcast explaining why it is too early for investors to know how the economic fallout from COVID-19 will impact the U.S. banking industry. The overall environment may be negative for banking, but on the bright side, the industry’s seamless transition to disaster mode has been remarkable. CECL is the main subject of the podcast, as Ethan discusses how we got to CECL, and puts the rule into historical context with other accounting rules and bank regulations going back to the early 1980s.