Bankers Trust hit by new complaint about derivatives.

NEW YORK -- Air Products & Chemicals Inc., became the latest Bankers Trust New York Corp. client to report a loss on interest rate swaps - and to complain that the investment was not consistent with its own risk-management policies.

Air Products said it lost $60 million (after-tax) on what turned out to be an incorrect bet on the path of interest rates. The company said the investment was "unacceptable and inconsistent with our traditional conservative approach."

Similarly, Procter & Gamble Co., last month said it turned out that two leveraged swaps acted not as hedges but as bets on interest-rate movements. P&G lost $102 million, after tax.

And, after taking a $16.7 million charge because of unrealized leveraged-swap losses, Gibson Greetings Inc. blamed its derivatives dealer.

A spokesman for Bankers Trust read a prepared statement saying that such transactions have been used "over a number of years" by clients for hedging financial risks.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER