BANKING & FINANCE - Jan. 23, 1996
Times Staff and Wire Reports
Daiwa Seeks Dismissal of Charges: The Japanese bank urged a federal judge to dismiss criminal charges that it participated in a cover-up of $1.1 billion in bond-trading losses at its New York branch. Daiwa Bank Ltd. argued in a 42-page motion, filed in U.S. District Court in lower Manhattan, that it was an unwitting victim of the 12-year scheme hatched by a former New York trader. Daiwa labeled as “a quibble” the prosecution’s accusation that the bank broke the law by failing to immediately contact U.S. banking regulators about the scheme. In a separate development, the bank’s credit rating on $1.4 billion of its debt was cut by Moody’s Investors Service to Baa1 from A3; its financial strength rating was cut to D from D+.
