banks

When I worked in banking not so long ago, it was actually cool to be “old school”. It was just another way of saying that one would try to balance the bank’s interests with that of the corporate client’s. To make neither too little money…

William Cohan told Bloomberg Television's Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle that he believes 'psychopaths" at the helm of major financial institutions were responsible for the credit crisis.

Nothing in Spain is exactly as it appears to be, and that few of the arguments politicians and so called “experts” advance are entirely innocent. Most “information” circulating in Spain is highly politicised. Really “independent” analysts…

News links for 22 December 2011 including stories on the tech world, Europe, and the ECB

Who says the ECB can't keep up with the Fed. As the euro crisis has caused liquidity for euro zone banks to dry up, the ECB has taken on the intermediation role. In essence, they have taken on the dollar liquidity function that the US money…

The end of year is usually a good time for markets. There was a lot of angst about the European situation a few weeks ago, but there is less of that now because we're hitting year-end (tape painting). Does that mean the credit crisis…

The key question remains what the banks will do with the newly acquired funds. We suspect that to the extent banks buy sovereign bonds, they will purchase their own sovereign's bonds rather than their neighbor's. More details of the nuances…

I thought I should highlight that Marshall Auerback was on Fox Business yesterday since he writes here occasionally. I wish it were more often! Marshall was on message regarding the euro zone debt crisis. His point: Additional liquidity is…

To it’s credit, the ECB has been pretty good on the liquidity front all along. I’d give it an A grade for liquidity vs the Fed where I’d give a D grade for liquidity. Back in 2008 the ECB was quick to provide unlimited euro liquidity to its…

The euro extended its rally to a six day high, just shy of $1.32 before the results of the ECB's allotment. The results were at the upper end of expectations and the euro was returned to session lows. A classic buy the rumor of a strong…