“When I arrived in Amsterdam recently I took a taxi to my hotel. Over the radio came this uplifting and heartfelt lyric: ‘I’ve had a s**t day and I’ve had enough’ (having gone through airport security I knew exactly how the singer felt). The following day, in the taxi on the way back, [...]
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“Measures of central bank balance sheet expansion under-estimate the scale of liquidity support provided during the crisis … there has been a widening of the collateral taken by most central banks in their operations. The taking of imaginative forms of collateral has a history which predates central banking: in the 12th [...] [This research note is from Deutsche Bank's DB Reasearch group.] Since the outbreak of the financial crisis in 2007, Europe’s banks have been gradually retreating from the US market, thereby making room for others to step in. At their peak in September 2007, euro-area banks held assets equivalent to 50% of all foreign bank assets. [...] A fall in interest rates cannot grow the economy. All that it can produce is a misallocation of real savings. As a rule, an artificial lowering of interest rates (which is accompanied by the central bank’s monetary pumping — increasing commercial banks’ reserves) boosts the demand for lending; and this, as a rule, causes banks to [...] “The reality… is that banks … support a thick layer of second tier executives, as well as legions of pen-pushing, meeting-loving, middle-and back-office workers who are paid multiples of their worth and contribution, especially compared with other industries.” - Financial Times‟ Lex column, January 19th, 2012. * [...] As the title of this essay suggests, a loan is an exchange of wealth for income. Like everything else in a free market (imagine happier days of yore), it is a voluntary trade. Contrary to the endemic language of victimization, both parties regard themselves as gaining thereby, or else they would not enter into the [...] S&P issued new ratings for the world’s 37 largest banks. Was your bank upgraded or downgraded? As a public service, I have included the entire list. Standard & Poor’s Applies Its Revised Bank Criteria To 37 Of The Largest Rated Banks And Certain Subsidiarie NEW YORK Nov. 29, 2011–Standard & Poor’s Ratings [...] Peter Tchir wrote a piece yesterday describing yet another hole in the banks’ balance sheets: I am not sure I fully understand it, but to me it looks something like this: A bank has a duration mismatch. Its funding is short-term, which means it must be rolled over frequently. This subjects the bank to the [...] |
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