http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/07/irish-banks-have-unreported-bad-debt.html Finance, Economics and Markets Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:37:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/07/irish-banks-have-unreported-bad-debt.html#comment-118 BenGraham Sat, 19 Jul 2008 13:44:00 +0000 http://www.creditwritedowns.com/2008/07/irish-banks-have-unreported-bad-debt.html#comment-118 In sum: you take what the banks have lost in terms of market cap, some 41bn, and you equal it to the amount of bad debt you assume is sitting on their books? Try this, for instance: in the last year H&M, one of the best retailers in the world, has lost in terms of market cap some 10bn euro. Now, reasoning the same way, should we expect, who knows, H&M to see a 10bn drop in its revenues? or maybe in its profits? But since its net income last year was 1/5 of 10bn, maybe we should expect it to lose 8bn this year, and the likes..... This is not about the Irish banks or their financial health, this is about journalism. I have no comment: I just think that 90% of the press should go back to school and learn at least the A,B,C not of finance (there's no hope on that side), but of common sense. In sum: you take what the banks have lost in terms of market cap, some 41bn, and you equal it to the amount of bad debt you assume is sitting on their books? Try this, for instance: in the last year H&M, one of the best retailers in the world, has lost in terms of market cap some 10bn euro. Now, reasoning the same way, should we expect, who knows, H&M to see a 10bn drop in its revenues? or maybe in its profits? But since its net income last year was 1/5 of 10bn, maybe we should expect it to lose 8bn this year, and the likes….. This is not about the Irish banks or their financial health, this is about journalism. I have no comment: I just think that 90% of the press should go back to school and learn at least the A,B,C not of finance (there's no hope on that side), but of common sense.

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