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As predicted the consequence of government ownership is significant

Colin Henderson

A US regulator on Friday predicted that chief executives and directors of some of the banks that underwent the stress tests could lose their jobs, Regulator expects bank chiefs to lose jobs | FT By Francesco Guerrera and Nicole Bullock in New York Published: May 16 2009 00:10 | Last updated: May 16 2009 A US regulator on Friday predicted that chief executives and directors of some of the banks that underwent the stress tests could lose their jobs, in another sign of the government’s desire to have a say in the running of bailed-out companies. Sheila Bair, chairman of … Continue reading As predicted the consequence of government ownership is significant

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Reset time

Colin Henderson

Its obvious we all have the  “too much information but its all good stuff” problem. It has been driving me crazy and I have tried: lables and categories in my RSS reader (Google Reader) watching other sources such as twitter, friendfeed, newsgator, feeddemon integration tools within gmail using greasemonkey scripts adding to Google Reader so that I would use the built in search (never happened) others too many to mention Bottom line.  If your target is to source and mine information incremental improvements fail, at least for me.  Adding to existing sources just adds to the problem of more data … Continue reading Reset time

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Amazon are the most innovative company

Colin Henderson

Thinking about innovation:  other companies including banks talk about innovation and Amazon just do it.  With revenue increases of 32% in areas that most of the population are possibly not even aware that Amazon is involved in (don’t they sell books??) this reflects an approach that levers what they have built to do other things. Read through for Kevin Kelleher‘s views and some facts on Amazon that might surprise you. Why Jeff Bezos is obsessed with waste Amazon Web Services, meanwhile, offers some of the company’s technology to others. Amazon’s “other revenue” — which includes that of AWS — totaled … Continue reading Amazon are the most innovative company

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“A banking system we can trust” | Forbes

Colin Henderson

An interesting proposal outlined in Forbes by Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Edward Leamer. The proposal is to eliminate bank failures by managing lending at banks through funds provided by mutual funds.  This would place all the risk with the holders of the funds (investor customers who lend money) and gain the risk advantages of a Mutual Fund.  Loans would be funded when the Mutual Fund provided the money. I find this particularly intriguing because this is basically the P2P lending model as it is now playing out, with sophisticated investors providing the funding directly to borrowers – P2P Lenders providing … Continue reading “A banking system we can trust” | Forbes

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Bank of America Needs $33.9 Billion | NYT

Colin Henderson

As predicted yesterday, the amount of capital the banks need is far in excess of the amounts they were negotiating. This news just in from the NYT confirms what had to be the case.  If we do the math based on project bad debts, it had to be in the $20bn + range for the big banks.  Similar results will apply to Wells, Citi,  PNC and others in the group of 19.  Watch out for the stock market tomorrow.  Reality bites. Bank of America Needs $33.9 Billion, U.S. Determines The government has determined that Bank of America will need $33.9 … Continue reading Bank of America Needs $33.9 Billion | NYT

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The US Government displays extraordinary weakness with Banks

Colin Henderson

This is turning into something of a joke.  The whole point of the ‘stress tests’ was to objectively assess the capital requirements of the Banks’.  Surely no-one could have imagined any outcome other than a requirement to raise more capital.  The only debate might be amount and over what period. In any event there can be no reason to delay the production of the results.  The market is living in the false belief that the government will not hold the banks feet to the fire, at least judging by the stock market.  If we do not get this over with, … Continue reading The US Government displays extraordinary weakness with Banks

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Ken Lewis is gone

Colin Henderson

No surprise but dramatic nonetheless – Ken Lewis is gone as Chairman – the writing is on the wall for him. Unfortunately he did himself no favours, showing up in Washington looking more like a bling bling movie star, but he was also American Banker’s banker of the year just a few months ago. He left the shareholders no choice today. How quickly the world changes ……  being chief of a bank ain’t what it was! New York Times breaking news Bank of America shareholders stripped Kenneth D. Lewis of his chairman’s title on Wednesday while allowing him to remain … Continue reading Ken Lewis is gone

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FinovateStartup – 1

Colin Henderson

Caught  a few of the participants this morning and as we wait for the next few rapid fire presentations, some highlights.  Note there are 350 in the audience: Lending Club: highlighted some lender functionality, paricularly in the secondary market showed the ability of lenders to compare their returns to other lenders Tempo Debit Card; decoupled debit card sign up online, with 90% approval success offers rewards on your debit card aim to to be the MBNA of debit cards Wesabe: always my favourite – Gabe showed off the new web interface highlighted accounts, and discussions ability to dig deeper aggregate … Continue reading FinovateStartup – 1