Título:
OLD BANKS, NEW TRICKS. De: Silver-Greenberg, Jessica, Francis, Theo, Levisohn, Ben, BusinessWeek, 00077135, 8/17/2009, Fascículo 4143

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OLD BANKS, NEW TRICKS
Lenders haven't sworn off risky financial products--they've just come up with different ones
That didn't take long. The economy hasn't yet recovered from the implosion of risky investments that led to the worst recession in decades--and already some of the world's biggest banks are peddling a new generation of dicey products to corporations, consumers, and investors.
In recent months such big banks as Bank of America, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase have rolled out newfangled corporate credit lines tied …ver más…

The result: The weaker the company, the higher the interest rates it must pay, which hurts the company further.
The lenders stress that the new products give them extra protection against default. But for companies, the opposite may be true. Managers now must deal with two layers of volatility--both short-term interest rates and credit default swaps, whose prices can spike for reasons outside their control.
Making matters more difficult for corporate borrowers: high fees. Banks are raising their rates for credit lines across the board--but the new CDS-based credit lines cost far more than the old lines. FedEx could end up paying $1.9 million to $3.6 million a month if it decides to tap a new line from JPMorgan and Bank of America. On its previous line with JPMorgan, FedEx would have paid about $540,000.
Yet many companies have little alternative. With corporate credit remaining tight, banks increasingly are steering borrowers to the CDS-linked loans. All told, lenders have handed out nearly $40 billion worth this year--roughly 70% of the total in credit lines extended to borrowers in fairly good standing. That's up from around 14% in 2008. FedEx, United Parcel Service, Hewlett-Packard, and Toyota Motor Credit have all taken the plunge. "It wasn't our idea," says a UPS spokesman. "The bankspulled back from offering set rates."
At the other end of the borrower spectrum, big