The Department of Justice has opened an investigation into the credit derivatives market, with letters sent to over a dozen dealers asking for several years' worth of detailed information about trading and pricing.
The move comes as the regulatory spotlight continues to shine on the credit default swaps (CDS) market, a sector of the privately-traded derivatives universe that grew dramatically in the last decade and generated huge profits for Wall Street.
Initially devised as a type of insurance on defaults, the CDS market is widely blamed for amplifying the credit crisis as it became a means for institutions like AIG to place vast bets on corporate credit and mortgage debt.