Wall Street Caves to Companies’ Demands to Stave Off Defaults
- Everi seeks changes, Marriott wins waiver on financial tests
- Banks oblige requests or otherwise risk wave of defaults
The closed Marriott hotel in Times Square, New York.
Photographer: Spencer Platt/Getty Images
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Wall Street banks are lending billions of dollars to desperate companies these days, like hotelier Marriott International and concert producer Live Nation Entertainment.
Now, a host of those companies are turning around and asking the banks to waive or loosen financial markers that help ensure the debt will be paid back. And for the most part, the banks, from JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Wells Fargo & Co., are obliging them because they would otherwise risk triggering a wave of defaults that would swell their loan losses from the pandemic and eat into their capital.