Bank of England: Murder on the Dancefloor

Wer sagt denn, daß Banker nicht funky sein können? Die Bank of England hat sogar einen ziemlich groovigen "Executive Director for financial stability". Mr Andrew Haldane zitiert den inzwischen legendären Ausspruch von Ex-Citibank-Chef Charles "Chuck" Prince:

"Haldane argued for the need for so-called macro-prudential tools to prevent crises caused by the collective behavior of banks. Former Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Charles O. “Chuck” Prince, expressed the dynamic in 2007 by saying his institution would keep lending so long as it had access to liquidity, because “as long as the music is playing, you’ve got to get up and dance.”

“Chuck Prince’s disco inferno causes murder on the dance floor,” said Haldane, who is the Bank of England’s executive director for financial stability.

Quelle:

http://noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=alHQxs3agnT0&pos=7

Die Musik spielt wieder

Gestern hat Chuck "Solange die Musik läuft, tanzen wir" Prince, Ex-Chef des VEBs "Citigroup" vor einem Untersuchungsausschuß in USA ausgesagt und sich, ebenso wie Robert "Weltenretter" Rubin für das eigene Versagen entschuldigt. Der Immobilienblasen-Blog berichtet, daß die Musik wieder spielt und wie 18 US-Großbanken den Ton immer kurz vor dem Berichtszeitpunkt herunterdrehen. Er zitiert das Wall Street Journal:

"Major banks have masked their risk levels in the past five quarters by temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting it to the public, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.A group of 18 banks—which includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.—understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42% at the end of each of the past five quarterly periods, the data show. The banks,which publicly release debt data each quarter, then boosted the debt levels in the middle of successive quarters. The data highlight the banks' levels of short-term financing in the repurchase, or "repo," market. Financial firms use cash from the loans to buy securities, then use the purchased securities as collateral for other loans, and buy more securities. The loans boost the firms' trading power, or "leverage," allowing them to make big trades without putting up big money. This amplifies gains—and losses, which were disastrous in 2008."

Die US-Banken fühlen sich offenbar sehr sicher vor dem Zorn der Bevölkerung.