Was Bear Stearns in compliance with applicable capital and liquidity requirements?
According to Bear Stearns’ reports to the SEC, Bear Stearns’ broker-dealers were in compliance with the SEC’s capital and customer protection rules. The SEC also supervises the Bear Stearns parent company, whose capital also exceeded relevant regulatory standards, and whose liquidity position had been relatively stable, ranging between $15 and $20 billion in the weeks preceding March 11. As of the morning of Tuesday, March 11, the parent company had over $17 billion in cash and unencumbered liquid assets.
