Banks & Interest Rates Archives - Page 52 of 59

May 2, 2012

FRB| Governor Tarullo: Regulatory Reform since the Financial Crisis

It is sobering to recognize that, more than four years after the failure of Bear Stearns began the acute phase of the financial crisis, so much remains to be done–in implementing reforms that have already been developed, in modifying or supplementing these reforms as needed, and in fashioning a reform program to address shadow banking concerns. For some time my concern has been that the momentum generated during the crisis will wane or be redirected to other issues before reforms have been completed. As you can tell from my remarks today, this remains a very real concern.

via FRB: Speech–Tarullo, Regulatory Reform since the Financial Crisis–May 2, 2012.

April 24, 2012

Basel takes aim at Mega Bank – MacroBusiness

Deep T: On the one side we have an Australian housing market which is close to the most unaffordable in the world with mortgage debt at 100% of GDP also close to the highest of any country, yet Mega Bank [the Big Four banks] calculates its minimum capital requirements at 1.6% on residential mortgages which undoubtedly would be close to the lowest of any bank in the world….. Surely, the result the Basel Committee assessment is a foregone conclusion?

Sadly, no. On the other side, however, we have an equally formidable opponent. Do not underestimate the politico-housing complex. The smoke screens will be built and a whitewash is on the cards. Australia has a history of painting a very rosy picture of our financial system and housing market in the face of significant known risk factors.

via Basel takes aim at Mega Bank – MacroBusiness.

April 23, 2012

Watch out! Is the Fed pushing us into another bubble? – Fortune's deals blog Term Sheet

The Fed’s actions have kept Treasury bond prices high (while keeping the government’s interest costs low), but the fundamentals do not support the high valuations, given the fiscal mess we are in. Sooner or later, the bond bubble will burst. History has shown that a structurally weak economy combined with a fiscally irresponsible government propped up by accommodative central-bank lending always ends badly.

….The biggest beneficiaries of loose money, are our profligate elected officials who refuse to come to grips with budget deficits and an exemption-laden tax code. As long as Treasury can borrow cheaply to paper over the real problems, politicians can demagogue about overspending (GOP) or undertaxing (Democrats) while dodging their responsibility to work together to fix our problems.

via Watch out! Is the Fed pushing us into another bubble? – The Term Sheet: Fortune’s deals blog Term Sheet.

April 18, 2012

Sowing Seeds of the Next Major Crisis – WSJ News Hub

Francesco Guerrera: “Prolonged intervention by the authorities is creating fundamental distortions in the financial markets. They are in my view going to create the next crisis.”

[gigya src=”http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/VideoPlayerMain.swf” bgcolor=”#FFFFFF” flashVars=”videoGUID={6DD8BBC3-C79F-4E66-A0D8-6F7F85B5BA98}&playerid=1000&plyMediaEnabled=1&configURL=http://wsj.vo.llnwd.net/o28/players/&autoStart=false” base=”http://s.wsj.net/media/swf/” name=”flashPlayer” width=”512″ height=”363″ seamlesstabbing=”false” type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” swLiveConnect=”true”]

March 20, 2012

You can't borrow yourself out of debt: The Secret of Oz

“You can’t borrow yourself out of debt any more than drink yourself sober.”

Bill Still on the on-going debt problem and the solution proposed by L. Frank Baum in the Wizard of Oz.

Comment:~ The solution proposed is not a magic bullet. Money printed by Treasury, whether in the form of banknotes (“scrip”) or tally sticks, is still Treasury debt; Treasury effectively borrows when the currency is issued in payment and settles when the notes are presented in payment of taxes. It also debases the currency, though not as fast as debt created by the banks. This video serves as a reminder that we still have not solved the global debt problem — merely postponed the inevitable by issuing further debt.

March 17, 2012

MARC FABER: Beware The Unintended Consequences Of Money Printing

Marc Faber: I do not believe that the central banks around the world will ever, and I repeat ever, reduce their balance sheets. They’ve gone the path of money printing and once you choose that path you’re in it, and you have to print more money.

If you start to print, it has the biggest impact. Then you print more – it has a lesser impact unless you increase the rate of money printing very significantly. And, the third money printing has even less impact. And the problem is like the Fed: they printed money because they wanted to lift the housing market, but the housing market is the only asset that didn’t go up substantially.

In general, I think that the purchasing power of money has diminished very significantly over the last ten, twenty, thirty years, and will continue to do so.

via MARC FABER: Beware The Unintended Consequences Of Money Printing.

March 17, 2012

The Power of Cheap Money | Puru Saxena | Safehaven.com

Mr. Bernanke is intentionally suppressing the nominal risk free rate of return and he is forcing investors to search for yield. By keeping interest rates artificially low and well below the rate of inflation, the Federal Reserve has engineered this impressive rally in American stocks.

Figure 2 captures the real US Treasury Yield Curve [after deducting inflation] across various maturities. As you can see, the real yields of the entire US Treasury Yield Curve (except the 30-Year US Treasury Bond) are currently negative.

Real US Treasury Yields

via The Power of Cheap Money | Puru Saxena | Safehaven.com.

March 14, 2012

Citigroup Vows to Try Again as Some Lenders Fail Fed Test – Bloomberg

Citigroup (C), SunTrust (STI), MetLife (MET) and Ally Financial failed to get their capital plans approved in the Fed’s stress tests, which mandated a minimum tier 1 capital ratio of 5%. Citi had a projected 4.9% ratio under the tests, SunTrust a 4.8% ratio, and Ally a mere 2.5% ratio.

The Fed is testing to see how the capital of U.S. banks might hold up through a deep recession and a second housing crisis. The scrutiny focused on variables such as trading and counterparty losses and write-offs on credit cards and first-lien mortgages. Most of the 19 banks passed.

via Citigroup Vows to Try Again as Some Lenders Fail Fed Test – Bloomberg.

March 12, 2012

Carmen Reinhart: Financial Repression – WSJ

Carmen Reinhart marks the rise of financial repression. “Faced with a private and public domestic debt overhang of historic proportions, policy makers will be preoccupied with debt reduction, debt management, and, in general, efforts to keep debt-servicing costs manageable. In this setting, financial repression in its many guises with its dual aims of keeping interest rates low and creating or maintaining captive domestic audiences will probably find renewed favor and will likely be with us for a long time.”

via Secondary Sources: Financial Repression, Jobs and Growth, Daylight Saving Scam – Real Time Economics – WSJ.

March 7, 2012

Fed Weighs ‘Sterilized’ Bond Buying if It Acts – WSJ.com

JON HILSENRATH: Federal Reserve officials are considering a new type of bond-buying program designed to subdue worries about future inflation if they decide to take new steps to boost the economy in the months ahead. Under the new approach, the Fed would print new money to buy long-term mortgage or Treasury bonds but effectively tie up that money by borrowing it back for short periods at low rates. The aim of such an approach would be to relieve anxieties that money printing could fuel inflation later, a fear widely expressed by critics of the Fed’s previous efforts to aid the recovery.

Transactions like those under the third scenario are called “reverse repos.” A related program called “term deposits” also ties up short-term money held by banks. The effect of this approach is the same as Operation Twist: The Fed would hold more long-term bonds and investors and banks would get more short-term holdings in exchange.

via Fed Weighs ‘Sterilized’ Bond Buying if It Acts – WSJ.com.