Bank Nationalisation must follow failure to meet stress test for solvency


Bank Nationalisation is finally the topic de jour.  It is an undercurrent in many discussions, and strangely has the Democrats and Republicans in some kind of opposite land debates. I favour the view of Nouriel Roubini who speaks of the current procress as being death by a thousand cuts in this worth watching video.  The governments in UK and US are dribbling money into banks and the auto sector, with no end in sight, and little apparent contrition from management.  A strategy is needed for both those sectors and decisive action taken. However it has to be based on principle … Continue reading Bank Nationalisation must follow failure to meet stress test for solvency

Enter the Zombie banks: Liquidity fixes for banks will not solve their solvency problem


James Baker of all people sums up precisely why the current government approaches to fixing banks’ problems is flawed.  As you will have gathered I fall in the Niall Ferguson/ Martin Wolf camp that says this situation is not just worse than we think but more importantly it is different than the prevailing wisdom.   We risk fixing the wrong problem in other words. ‘How Washington can prevent ‘zombie banks’ | Financial Times Beginning in 1990, Japan suffered a collapse in real estate and stock market prices that pushed major banks into insolvency. Rather than follow America’s tough recommendation – and … Continue reading Enter the Zombie banks: Liquidity fixes for banks will not solve their solvency problem