The UK's Office for National Statistics is now estimating the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group combined losses will cost between £1 to £1.5 trillion in additional public debt. That's the equivalent of 70% to 100% of the UK's GDP. They've also been reclassified as "public" institutions, which means that all of their…
There's been a distinct lack of outspoken bankers talking about this crisis. Most seem to be hiding under the lights of their own bushel. But no. There is one brave banker out there, willing to stand up and be counted. And no. It's not Jamie Dimon! It's US Bancorp's CEO Richard Davis. Speaking at a…
There's been a distinct lack of outspoken bankers talking about this crisis. Most seem to be hiding under the lights of their own bushel. But no. There is one brave banker out there, willing to stand up and be counted. And no. It's not Jamie Dimon! It's US Bancorp's CEO Richard Davis. Speaking at a…
I chaired a dinner on compliance last night, with eight risk and compliance professionals from a range of international and global banks. Without any particular science to this, I noted key words used throughout the evening and came up with a word cloud that looks a bit like this: What this demonstrated is that there…
I chaired a dinner on compliance last night, with eight risk and compliance professionals from a range of international and global banks. Without any particular science to this, I noted key words used throughout the evening and came up with a word cloud that looks a bit like this: What this demonstrated is that there…
The UK government has just published a document titled 'The Road to the London Summit'. This represents Gordon Brown's plan for getting the global economy back on track through a new global deal. The report sets out the 'Global Deal' – a package of internationally coordinated measures to restore stability in the financial systems, and set a…
The UK government has just published a document titled 'The Road to the London Summit'. This represents Gordon Brown's plan for getting the global economy back on track through a new global deal. The report sets out the 'Global Deal' – a package of internationally coordinated measures to restore stability in the financial systems, and set a…
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Germany's Black Swan Banks. Now, Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to change German law to seize private property back, for the first time since the War, in order to fully nationalise Hypo Real Estate (HRE). According to the German newspaper Weld, "the German government has agonised over…
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Germany's Black Swan Banks. Now, Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to change German law to seize private property back, for the first time since the War, in order to fully nationalise Hypo Real Estate (HRE). According to the German newspaper Weld, "the German government has agonised over…
In a speech by Lorenzo Bini Smaghi, Member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank (ECB) last Thursday, he emphasized the idea of a single EU regulator. This has been mooted since the Financial Services Action Plan (FSAP) was created in 2000, and is a regular discussion. It is now even more discussed…
