Back fires

Will banks ever learn to leave ratchets alone? Washington Mutual, National City and others have come to grief when anti-dilution provisions in capital raisings interfered with their ability to raise money later, when the financial crisis worsened. Barclays is the latest to dabble with these toxic instruments. It may come to regret it. The UK bank inserted a ratchet clause into a deal with Gulf investors last year. It allows them to reset the price of the convertible stock they purchased if the ...