Credit Suisse Writedowns

Write downs are not really news any more, but Credit Suisse's reasoning behind it is still worth noting:

Switzerland's second-largest bank took $2.85 billion of writedowns on asset-backed securities after an internal review found ``mismarkings'' by a group of traders and debt markets deteriorated. The Zurich-based bank said in a statement today that it's assessing whether 2007 earnings were also affected.

Now if a financial firm is still relying on traders to mark the price of securities, it's ought to be in big trouble... Where are the Risk Managers?