banks

The average interest rate for a savings account today is 0.45%. It wasn't that long ago that one could easily earn 5% in a well-chosen savings account, like those offered by ING Direct, or bump that up by a point or two by putting money…

MF Global may prove to be yet another example of how meaningless the word “bonus” has become. One of the trustees overseeing the broken firm wants to pay out hundreds of thousands of dollars to three executives who used to report to Jon…

Appraisers are pursuing class action suits against banks, asserting they were blacklisted if they refused to engage in fraudulent appraisals. The problem is that if they win, they are then subject to suit by homeowners (who are losing their…

In an entirely fraudulent paper chase, the banks that borrowed LTRO money put some of it to work in sovereign carry trades. The banks have borrowed at 0.25% from the ECB and are buying sovereign bonds with much higher yields. Intesa…

That Weidmann now wishes to publicly claim he is concerned about risk associated with the Bundesbank's Target2 credit does not simply mean that this is a truth that has now been "acknowledged". I would guess that the sober Bundesbank…

This is a silver level post. The biggest problem most people have with the bailouts is not that the banks were bailed out but additionally that there seem to have been no consequences for individual actors, the executives that brought the…

The financial plan is basically an asset grab. They want to load the whole economy down with debt. A consumer will come in and say, I’d like to take out a loan. They’ll say, how much do you earn? Everything over subsistence they’ll want as…

The US dollar is broadly weaker ahead of tomorrow’s 3-year ECB tender (LTRO).

The US dollar is broadly weaker ahead of tomorrow’s 3-year ECB tender (LTRO).

It looks like someone at Fannie woke up and realized that any case of a guarantor voiding a policy was prima facie evidence that BofA had breached a rep and warranty about loan quality. Look at the examples: inflated appraisals and incomes.