A burst bubble affects everyone …..
Lehman Brothers employees in London today ….. a picture to remember. and Chicago …. New York HQ Continue reading A burst bubble affects everyone …..
US to take control of AIG
The official Federal Reserve announcement signalling that the US government is not prepared to let AIG fail. This after letting Lehman Brothers fail, and pressuring Merrill Lynch into a sale to Barclays. Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend up to $85 billion to the American International Group (AIG) The Board determined that, in current circumstances, a disorderly failure of AIG could add to already significant levels of financial market fragility and lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth, and materially weaker economic performance More here at the FT The loan is at a punitive interest rate … Continue reading US to take control of AIG
Enormous reductions in US bank valuations since 2007
The market capitalisation reductions in just these Banks shown, alone work out to $651 billion since October 9th, 2007. Its an average of 59% down, ranging from 38% to 99%. TechCrunch | Four trillion dollars down the drain Continue reading Enormous reductions in US bank valuations since 2007
Lessons from Japan that are not being heeded
No need to get extreme just yet, but its interesting to reflect on previous bubble situations, and Japan is a good example. During the period 1986 – 1990 Japan experienced an extreme bubble based on stock and property values. Chatting with my wife, who lived through that bubble, there are distinct parallels. In other words they experienced North America 2000 plus 2007 yet simultaneously. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_asset_price_bubble Prices were highest in Tokyo’s Ginza district in 1989, with choice properties fetching over US$1.5 million per square meter ($139,000 per square foot). Prices were only slightly less in other areas of Tokyo. By 2004, … Continue reading Lessons from Japan that are not being heeded
Would you lend money to this man (Bank) ?
Mukesh over at the excellent Moneyaisle blog makes a crucial point that the financial’s of Lehmans, Merrill, and AIG are all provided publicly and to analysts, yet no-one foresaw the crisis and the speed with which these Banks failed. Lehman, Merrill Lynch, AIG: A Crisis of Confidence | Moneyaisle Blog Until very recently, Lehman (NYSE:LEH) was insisting that they were doing fine and had sufficient reserves. Clearly, they were way off base. There were countless analysts reviewing their financial reports in excruciating detail and, unfortunately, all that collective wisdom and experience was largely unable to dispute it. Similar situations occurred … Continue reading Would you lend money to this man (Bank) ?
Wesabe introduces a bank balance Vista gadget
Here is another terrific innovation from Wesabe. It provides up to date bank and credit card balances in a Vista gadget. Incidentally, I had no idea this was coming when I did the competitive alignment/ innovation/ Microsoft post yesterday. Wesabe | Windows Vista Gadget The Wesabe Windows Vista Gadget is a small application you can run in your Windows Vista Sidebar to give you instant access to your account balances and recent transactions. Technorati Tags: wesabe Continue reading Wesabe introduces a bank balance Vista gadget
"I truly fear for our economy and our system the next several days"
This from a “30year veteran of the bond market. My career began at the Open Market Desk of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the significant majority of the subsequent years were spent trading (Treasuries) or selling high grade fixed income product for some of the largest primary dealer firms” The situation is grim: Endgame?, by Tim Duy: News is flowing in faster than the ability to process the implications. When I went to bed Saturday night, the only sure thing looked like the liquidation of Lehman Monday morning. A scant 24 hours later, to that liquidation is … Continue reading "I truly fear for our economy and our system the next several days"
Is your Bank properly aligned to the new competitive threats | Case Study – Microsoft
Many of us complain about Microsoft, but this Arrington post at TechCrunch caught my attention because it highlighted larger picture of the environment of the company that appears not to see the competitive forces surrounding them. Microsoft Annual Report To sustain the growth of our Server and Tools business amid competition from other vendors of both proprietary and open source software, our goal is to deliver products that provide the best platform for network computing – software that is easiest to deploy and manage, and that is most secure – with the lowest total cost of ownership. # of mentions: … Continue reading Is your Bank properly aligned to the new competitive threats | Case Study – Microsoft
Expensify is a good example of re-defining payments
In keeping with the payments theme, here is a classic interpretation. Give the product for free and charge for the value at the point of interaction. In this case a 3% fee on transactions. In return the user gets the reporting, and a “web-based expense manager and uses cellphone cameras to upload pictures of receipts to match against purchases”. Netbanker: Expensify Launches Decoupled Credit/Debit Card Using Prepaid Model To cover the extra interchange and create some revenue for itself, Expensify levees a 3% transaction fee on the cardholder. Although, the card is otherwise relatively fee-free, that’s a significant surcharge. Why … Continue reading Expensify is a good example of re-defining payments
Banks have to understand the ‘cloud’ and solve their security concerns
The latest report from PEW offers Banks something to think about. The reality of cloud computing already exists, with a clear majority of internet users taking advantage of the convenience of cloud computing. PEW – Use of Cloud Computing Applications and Services Some 69% of online Americans use webmail services, store data online, or use software programs such as word processing applications whose functionality is located on the web. Online users who take advantage of cloud applications say they like the convenience of having access to data and applications from any Web-connected device. However, their message to providers of such … Continue reading Banks have to understand the ‘cloud’ and solve their security concerns
