‘Bank’ Archives
The European Union is drafting a law which will make losses for larger savers a permanent feature of any future banking crises. (They looked at Cyprus and they liked what they saw!!). However, they also say "Depositors should be the very last to [...]
(Reuters) - Five years after the onset of the global financial crisis, the world economy is in such a chronic condition that the European Central Bank might cut interest rates this week and the Federal Reserve is likely to indicate no let-up in the [...]
Economic Recovery: Fact or Faith?
Whenever man has struggled with solutions to big problems, he has turned to his God, who has consistently said that if man endures deprivations and suffering on this Earth, he will get his just reward in Heaven. The weird thing is that here we are [...]
“Sorry” seems to be the easiest word.
The head of Barclays investment bank, Rich Ricci is about to retire after having received an £18 MILLION bung from the company. The payment was announced on the last Budget day - probably to ensure that the news was well-and-truly "buried", with [...]
Government Debt: “We’re all in this together.”
Never mind all that "Debt as a percentage of GDP" nonsense. Here's a picture of government debt on a simple picture, courtesy of ukpublicspending.co.uk. It is OUT OF CONTROL. All steep graphs are scary, no matter which way they're pointing. Make [...]
What’s happened to PROPER Investment Banking?
As recently as 2009, banks' investment fees were higher in Europe than in the United States. Nowadays, Europe is delivering only about a quarter of total investment activity, with the corresponding collapse in fee income. Mergers and Acquisitions [...]
The Eurocrisis isn’t just Financial.
The Eurozone crisis has managed to morph from a plain old currency crisis to a debt crisis, an economic crisis and now, a full-blown political crisis - although no-one seems to have noticed........ and it's not just the Eurozone: In the United [...]
Maggie’s Big Bang.
Although, in common with many others, I feel a sadness for the passing of Margaret Thatcher, there is one major part of her legacy which recent history has shown to have been an over-sold concept - The Big Bang. That was the day - 27th October 1986 [...]
HBOS: An accident waiting to happen.
There will be a lot of analysis and debate about HBOS and the findings of the Banking Standards Commission - mostly by journos with economics degress who will produce excellent but very technical (and sometimes incomprehensible) remedies and causes [...]
Those Teflon Banks.
If the economy was purring along, companies were forming and not going bust, banks were lending properly (not statistically) and the government didn't regard any GDP growth above zero as an achievement, most of us would not have any problem with [...]
Equity Euphoria. Why?
The Markets are in the wrong place. For about two years, I have been suggesting that market sentiment bears absolutely no relation to what is really happening in the real economy. Yesterday's Markit manufacturing figures clearly show that Europe's [...]
CYPRUS: Help me to understand this : Bank Depositors are clobbered in one bank but not the other. Then, cross-border money movement is restricted as are withdrawals from individuals' own accounts. Finally, a large swathe of the population is [...]
The Budget: George IV
Yesterday's Budget had all the marketing qualities of a statement which is already anticipating the next General Election. A few give-aways, something for the housebuyer, a little bit for the businessman and of course, a catch phrase!. In fact , [...]
CYPRUS Robbery
For 24 hours, the world has been focused on the Cypriot small savers who are likely to lose a slice of their cash to the god Euro. However, there are others who may lose a lot more. According to Moody's, the Cyprus debt crisis has endangered [...]
We hear a lot about company pensions and their "shortfalls". So what's it all about? Many company pension schemes, worried about the UK's economic volatility decided to invest a larger proportion of their pension funds into bonds. Unfortunately, [...]
Banking Reform – A Lack of Will?
When will groups such as The Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards wake up and realise that this government has NO real intention of reorganising the banks. The talk has moved from buffers to firewalls, ring-fencing, electrified [...]
Europe’s economic fractures widen in February
By Andy Bruce LONDON | Tue Mar 5, 2013 11:46am GMT (Reuters) - France, Spain and Italy dragged the euro zone into a deeper downturn in February, according to business surveys that showed the chasm between these countries and prosperous Germany [...]
Economic ruin: The Root (Banking) Cause.
Here is some simple high-level analysis which always helps to crystallise issues: The 2008 mortgage-driven banking industry meltdown was directly responsible for the Eurozone debt crisis, political chaos, austerity, recession (in some cases - [...]
Forgotten Economic Lesson?
This was written in the 1960s: "Yet it is also true that small events at times have large consequences, that there are such things as chain reactions and cumulative forces. It happens that a liquidity crisis in a unit fractional reserve banking [...]
Greece: The Russians are coming.
There is little doubt that the Eurozone has been so inward-looking over the last few years that the big-picture has eluded it. Two years ago, I wrote about possible Chinese interest in Greece but it would seem that I was wrong. It is the Russians [...]
The Greek question. It’s all Greek.
The Hellenic Telecommunication Organisation (OTE) is to sell a euro benchmark Bond in order to finance itself and redeem previous bond issues which mature both this year and next. So, what are its chances of successfully issuing the bond in the [...]
The Silence of the Auditors.
In the Good Old Days, when every day was sunny, there were only two TV channels and Bank Managers weren't anonymous, every Debit used to have a Credit. Unfortunately, in Banking, this is no longer the case.....but is it only the bankers who were to [...]
GDP excuses?
These are the GDP figures per quarter since Q4 2010, the time from which we can assume that the government's policies "kicked-in". Q4 2010: -o.4% Q1 2011: +0.4% Q2 2011: +0.1% Q3 2011: +0.6% Q4 2011: [...]
Dave Camenor and the Banker – a Fable
The Gates to Economic Recovery and New Prosperity were being guarded by the Bankers. A tired and bedraggled band of travellers stood before them. They were led by Flashman, the legendary illusionist and Prime Minister of the Ukshire. The [...]
Central Banks – The FOUR big lies.
The first lie you'll hear this year from central bankers is that they intend to stop minting cash to buy government debt. Moreover (and more blatantly), they will announce their intention to start selling back to the market government bonds [...]
World Economy: The lunatics ARE running the Asylum!
Today, I was asked what I thought about this year's European economic outlook. It isn't great! One factor which I have consistently underestimated is the ability of politicians to "wheelbarrow" a tragic set of circumstances from one meeting to [...]
50 Predictions for 2013
Last year's predictions are HERE. Some were right, some were nearly right whilst others were nowhere near! That's because most forecasting is a mixture of extrapolation, conjecture, wishful-thinking and luck..............apart, that is, political [...]
Europe: Read the small print.
European leaders have agreed a timetable during which they will produce (only) the legal framework for a Eurozone Banking Regulator. Critical words? Timetable and Legal Framework. NO BANKING REGULATOR. Implementation will be "during 2013". [...]
An Early Vince Christmas
In the last FOUR YEARS, the British taxpayer bailed-out the banks and insured them against failing and the government has TALKED about reorganising them. It has also TALKED about excessive bank profits and bonuses. So it is only natural that as [...]
Money printing – a simple question.
Today, the Head of Germany's Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, has asked a very simple but critical question about Quantitative Easing and its cousin, the Unlimited Bond Purchase: "If a central bank can create unlimited money from nothing, how can it [...]
Eurozone: Decisions Decisions
LONDON: Global stocks and the euro dipped yesterday as investors cashed in some of last week's sharp gains ahead of a German ruling on the euro zone's new bailout fund, Dutch elections and potential new stimulus from the US Federal Reserve. The [...]
ECB Mario Draghi’s Statement……….. 6th September 2012
Ladies and gentlemen, the Vice-President and I are very pleased to welcome you to our press conference. We will now report on the outcome of today's meeting of the Governing Council, which was also attended by the President of the Eurogroup, Prime [...]
Eurozone Meetings Merrygoround
This week, Angela Merkel meets Herman Van Rompuy, Mario Monti meets Francois Hollande who also meets David Cameron. The new Meeting Season seems to indicate that Eurozone leaders have decided that meeting in plenary will be punctuated by the new [...]
Buy or Rent?
Remember, if you take a mortgage to "buy" a house, you are effectively RENTING from your bank - but YOU are taking the capital risk plus YOU pay for the maintenance and insurance of the BANK'S asset. If you fall behind with your "rent" to a [...]
Gideon’s latest Wheeze!
Various half-arsed stimulus packages by clueless governments without properly jump-starting their economies achieve nothing but a postponement of the day of reckoning. Banks will fail, more housing markets will collapse and panicked governments [...]
Germany reports the biggest fall in new business orders since records began, manufacturing in France is at a three-year low with Italy experiencing the fastest rise in unemployment for three years. On the other hand, Ireland's output is beginning [...]
On Thursday 2nd Auguust 2012, in order for the Eurozone to have any sort of mid-term future, the ECB'sMario Draghi has to pull something out of the hat. Because of the political procrastination and everyone else's expectation, this cannot just be a [...]
The Eurozone’s Déjà vu Economics
For years, regulators have been trying to control bad banking. Governments have been failing to control bad sovereign fiscal governance. That's the nature of the Eurozone. This flawed approach has only left one solution - at some stage, both the [...]
Whatever It Takes (WIT)
Every European politician is now resorting to the "Whatever it takes" mantra. This week they will do whatever it takes to safeguard the sacred cow that is the Eurozone. That pampered sacred cow which feeds and feeds without actually producing much [...]
Euroshite:
This is the way that it's going to work over the next few weeks: The markets, in spite of the fact that they're going up and down like a whore's drawers, should really be DOWN (like a whore's drawers). However, BECAUSE the markets are way too high [...]
Barclays Bob
Some may be wondering about the timing of Bob Diamond's decision to "walk" from what is the best-paid and most high-profile banking job in the UK. Some may believe that he was hounded out by the banking establishment. I reckon that he walked in [...]
Barclays out of CONTROL?
A few years ago, I moved away from teaching and coaching the "soft" skills of management and have been concentrating much more on the "hard" skills. One of the hard skills of management, which everyone running a department or process should know, [...]
New Banks for Old!
There is little doubt that a brand new Banking Act is a little overdue. However, instead of spending 5 years on inquiries, commissions, debate and law-writing, why don't we just "rewind" and "tap-in" to some of the old banking legislation. Banks [...]
Greek Texas Hold ‘Em
The Greek Syriza leader has the measure of the Eurozone sheep. You may not agree with his politics but Alexis Tsipras is THE ONE that Eurozone leaders do NOT want to negotiate with. They have been bluffing that they're "ready" for a Greek Euro [...]
FCNK – Fur Coat, No Knickers
British politics are cyclical and there are two views as to the nature of the cycle. One is that Labour is in power for a bit and then the Conservatives come along with lots of shovels and clear up the mess. The other view is that it is Labour [...]
The altruistic Goldman Sachs!
One thing we should understand about former Goldman Sachs employee Greg Smith who has achieved notoriety for his resignation letter attempting to destroy his former employer's already shaky reputation. GS is not known as the "Vampire Squid" for [...]
Holding Bank Shares? Think again.
Another week, another bank rip-off... The Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) mis-selling scandal has only just come to a head. Banks are facing compensation claims of as much as £6bn from customers duped into buying insurance they didn’t [...]
HSBC – 2011 – $22billion.
Steve Slater (Reuters) 5:19 a.m. EST, February 27, 2012 HSBC Holdings, Europe's biggest bank, predicted growth in Asia and other emerging markets would outweigh sluggish European economies this year as it posted a $21.9 billion profit for 2011, [...]
All Change!!
It was Gordon Gekko who said that "Greed is good" and currently it is that greed which is popularly believed to be the root cause of the current economic downturn. But who was it that said that "Change is Good"? What if the real root cause of the [...]
Greek party leaders seek deal as bankruptcy looms
By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS Associated Press ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- Greek party leaders on Tuesday will seek a long-delayed agreement on harsh cutbacks demanded to avoid looming bankruptcy, amid intense pressure from its bailout creditors to reach a [...]
EU official: Greece needs extra $20 billion
By GABRIELE STEINHAUSER BRUSSELS (AP) — Greece needs about an extra euro15 billion ($20 billion) to get its debt down to manageable levels — and the rest of 17-country eurozone is being asked to help foot the bill. Debt-ridden Greece is close [...]
Fred Goodwin in good company!!
Fred Goodwin has never been convicted of anything, he has not been censured by any regulator, yet the very obscure and to most of us, hitherto unknown Forfeiture Committee has recommended to the Queen that he be stripped of his knighthood. This [...]
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of the Euro leaders who appears to be slightly too relaxed about the fact that the Greek government has not yet finalised an agreement with creditors in respect of its Sovereign Debt. Now there is the rumour [...]
It’s Different Attitudes……….
American father to his son: " See that man son? That's Stephen Hester. He's Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland. That's a VERY big bank and the British government hired Mr Hester to put things right after it was left in a bit of a mess. [...]
In defence of Stephen Hester!
RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester has a very challenging job. He has to get to grips with the quagmire of accounting and organisational disorder bequeathed to the taxpayer by his predecessor Sir Fred Goodwin. So far, Stephen Hester does not appear [...]
Central Bankers – The Fifth Estate.
Nowadays, the bank to government to Central Bank and back to bank cross-border flows of money (both real and imaginary), the constant borrowing and re-borrowing , the bond auctions etc. appear to be behaving as if controlled by a separate, [...]
50 Predictions for 2012
An economy used to depend on the interactions between consumers, commerce, politics and investors. Nowadays, we have to add banks (which used to be no more than a service industry) as an additional entity. Keynesian economics are all well and good [...]
More European Unforeseen Consequences?
For 3 years, (since the 2008 crisis) banks have been acquiring equity stakes in British companies. That is grinding to a halt. Banks will be cutting losses in order to get their money out - especially from weak companies, resulting in more [...]
The Merkozy Love-in.
This week sees yet another meeting of Eurozone leaders. On previous form, I would bet that the only outcome will be a series of half-measures and promises which will be primarily designed to reassure fund managers, investors and to placate the [...]
World Markets Rally!!!!
A move to boost lending by six central banks including the Bank of England has triggered a rally on world markets. The banks, also featuring the European Central Bank and US Federal Reserve, agreed to lower interest rates on US dollar loans, which [...]
United Kingdom and Miracle-Gro?
"Growth" is a word which is used far too rarely in all the messages and communiques which we have become accustomed to hearing emanate from the million-and-one Euromeetings. Consequently, it is refreshing to see something (anything) written-down [...]
EFSF Accounting Gymnastics.
Last night , Eurozone finance ministers (sort of) agreed a deal to increase the firepower of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF). Unfortunately, this time it really IS a case of too little too late or perhaps, someone didn't get [...]
Send for the taxpayer!
In those long-gone antediluvian years before electronic calculators, personal computers, Subway sandwiches, alcopops , female managers and the morning-after pill, there were dusty institutions with mahogany desks, huge ledgers, pound notes and [...]
Virgin on the Ridiculous.
"Bend over, George" A huge slice of the financial services industry is under taxpayer control - or so we all thought. The truth is that a phrase such as "owned by the taxpayer" is a nonsesnse. " "Bailed-out with taxpayer cash" is the only [...]
Billionaire Wall Street Investor Wilbur Ross as well as an Abu Dhabi investment fund are Virgin Money backers . Other participants in the Northern Rock auction were NBNK and American private equity company JC Flowers. For apparently no good reason, [...]
'The taxpayer will see its outstanding loans to Northern Rock repaid in full, with interest.' .......... Alastair Darling, February 2008 'At the end of the day banks will be paying money to the British public, not the other way [...]
This weekend's goings-on in Greece and Italy have bought maybe two or three days of calm. The usual pattern is for another crisis to surface or for another set of tragic trading figures to materialise and once again, it will be back to square one. [...]
The moves by both Greece and Italy towards a Technocratic -style government are both reassuring and frightening. The increased complexity of global economics has really exposed elected politicians as being incapable of making the right decisions, [...]
Italian Euro-light?
European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn has said that Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Malta and Poland are not doing enough to cut their deficits. How DO these people know? The good news is that Italy has managed to shift 5 [...]
October 2011 Eurozone Output
This is what they said: 1. Over the last three years, we have taken unprecedented steps to combat the effects of the world-wide financial crisis, both in the European Union as such and within the euro area. The strategy we have put into place [...]
Might as well make it £200 billion, Merv .
"WTF ???!" Below is the statement issued yesterday by the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee. It defies comment because it runs out of facts after Line 2 of the first paragraph. Paragraph 2 is no more that the usual retrospective "No [...]
Greece and the Deutschebond
Hopefully, Europe is NOT relying on yesterday's conference call between Angela Merkel, Nicolas Sarkozy and Greek Prime Minister, George Papandreou. Lets not beat around the bush. The Greek government lied in order to gain entry to the Eurozone. It [...]
Eurobullshit!
I pointed out a few days ago that it seemed as if there was an orchestrated effort by politicians and bankers to put-out weekly or bi-weekly "Statements of Intent" -- purely in order to placate the Markets as well as to postpone the inevitable [...]
Dans la merde or in der Scheiße?
Good to see Italy and Greece on top. I just have a look at the European stock markets and on the surface everything appears to be quite normal. The banks are doing especially well! Today's showing in the markets is the most clear indicator so [...]
The Greek Entry.
Last week I predicted that it was Sarkozy's turn to deliver yet another mealy-mouthed statement. Looks as if it's this afternoon! The question is CAN he save the French Banks whilst convincing an increasingly cynical public and sceptical markets [...]
Casino Economics
After three years, the scales have fallen from our eyes and finally, the light has flooded in. It has been long time coming but suddenly - an Epiphany! The politicians, bankers, economists and even the Central Bank astrologers have absolutely [...]
Bilderberg 2011
Wondering where real decisions are made? This is a list of attendees at this year's Bilderberg Conference. The conference is held annually with about 140 participants. This year the conference was on 11th June at the Suvretta hotel in St. Moritz, [...]
Neo Mushroom Management
The standard of senior management in the United Kingdom appears to be deteriorating at an alarming rate and it seems to be a comparatively new phenomenon. It all started about four years ago. Bank Directors had no idea that their banker-underlings [...]
Bend Over, America!
We have all known for some time that the ongoing banking crisis was originally started by some sort of banker-naughtiness and what we have in common with the vast majority of Bank Directors is that we don't really understand WHAT happened. But we [...]
Between Gold & a Hard Place.
2011 will be remembered as the year when the gold price really took off. It will also be remembered as the year of the PIIGS. That's Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece, Spain. So what would happen if we combined the two? What would happen if the [...]
Banks? It won’t be long!!
When the big boxes of money arrived in Libya yesterday, I bet that there were several European states who were slavering and wishing that someone would send them a box too! Especially Greece. Plus other states who don't really want to admit [...]
We’re in the Shapps!
House building in the United Kingdom has slumped to a 90-year low. Home ownership is predicted to slump to approximately 65%. The proportion of people living in owner-occupied homes is forecast to fall to 63.8% by 2021, down from 72.5% in 2001 [...]
States of the economies.
The next economic and banking collapse is going to make the 2008 crash look like a slight adjustment. Once-powerful Western economies are booking quarterly GDP growths of 1% or less. For the non-mathematicians, that is within a rounding error of [...]
Morton’s Fork lives!
Libya Post-Saddam-type chaos in Libya will NOT be avoided. That's nigh-on impossible. One of the overlooked plans of the Iraq campaign was the Exit Strategy. Well, bugger me, the West has done it again in Libya. The next major initiative will be [...]
Jittery Markets make small gains.
European markets have made nervous gains despite lingering fears that the world economy is heading back towards recession. The FTSE 100 Index in London gained 1.5% as traders decided that shares represented good value after the index fell 5% last [...]
Gideon Floundering?
The MOST wretched Cabinet job is that of Chancellor of the Exchequer. I spent years criticising the "Iron Chancellor", Gordon Brown. During his posturing days when he was surfing the economic wave created by his predecessor Ken Clarke and even [...]
Politicians? Self-interest? Surely not!
The world's economic problems will not be solved by politicians. Firstly because they do NOT have the skills to deal with a multi-causal, muti-faceted and highly technical international phenomenon. Secondly, their decision-making is always [...]
What did the Greeks ever do for us?
The politicians are very happy to accept credit for taming the debt dragon which, in fact, they themselves created by allowing the banks a free rein for far too long. The Bank of England's solution of Quantitative Easing, that is to say handing [...]
Spygun Snippets from an Island
Civil Servants will be striking on June 30th. Glad that they publicised the date, otherwise some of us may not have noticed the difference. Good to hear that because Libya is a member of the International Olympic Committee, it has been allocated [...]
Lagarde, IMF and Adidas.
The selection process for the next International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director kicked-off yesterday and will finish on June 10th. Coincidentally, that is exactly the same date on which the front-runner for the post, France's Christine [...]
What?! Mandelson for the IMF?
(Yes, yes! We ALL thought that it was a nose-bleed) The Chinese have asked if Prince of Darkness, Peter Mandelson would be interested in THE job at the International Monetary Fund! Does a Pope crap in the woods? Is the bear a Catholic? It is [...]
Christine Lagarde or Gordon Brown?
"Hands out of your pockets, Dominique." The bookies' favourite for the suddenly vacant IMF Managing Director's job is the very bright, willowy 55 year-old Christine Lagarde. The only obstacle in her way is the fact that she's currently French [...]
Falling Inflation with Rising Prices?
When you are told that inflation is falling, you would naturally expect prices to be falling . That ain't necessarily so! Many years ago, when I worked for a very large bank, I sent a team of people into town in order to find out whether [...]
Euphoria on Planet Bank!
Yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of England suggested that the banks have slowly returned to their bad habits - but why should that have happened? Just over two years ago, senior bankers were standing around in draughty Treasury corridors [...]
Featherbedding the Banks
What the bankers are holding A report was published today by the New Economics Foundation about the "hidden subsidies" currently enjoyed by the British banking industry. It is evident that the language, techniques and accounting procedures [...]
Banged-up Bankers
Norman Tebbit is right. It is about time that the banking industry told us who was responsible for the banking Chernobyl of 2008. So far, apart from one or two career casualties, no-one has been brought to book. There certainly have been no criminal [...]
Diamond is forever
" These stiffs earn £65K. Wooooo! I'm so scared!!" Barclays boss, Bob Diamond, was today "grilled" by the Treasury Select Committee and once again showed that he is slicker than frozen catshit on wet ice. He, of course was not the ideal [...]
Currency Wars.
I have been predicting the collapse of the dollar followed by the collapse of the pound sterling for about 12 months. the phrase 'double-dip recession' has now gone into the language but again is one of those phrases which is quite meaningless [...]
Goldman Sachs on the run
"Hey wise guy! Wanna buy any synthetic collateralised debt obligations?" Over the last few years, I have written a great deal about Goldman Sachs and its Svengali-like hold over successive U.S Governments. Some of what I've written remains [...]
William Hague – a tribute
The article below appeared in the Daily Mirror on 5th March 201o and is reproduced here with the full permission of the author Brian Reade. When you have finished reading about William Hague, you may perceive that Brian Reade is probably not [...]