William K. Black on MF Global

Bill Black was on Capital Account talking to Lauren Lyster about MF Global. As usual, Capital Account delves deep into the real issues. Black never disappoints. Video below

Time to Demand Transparency and Accountability of Our Public Stewards

When will we begin to reign-in the Fed and hold it accountable? And will we let the Fed bail-out Wall Street without Congressional approval of funding the next time it crashes? We need to answer these questions soon, because it is beginning to look like the next crash is on its way

The SEC’s Day in Court

Judge Jed S. Rakoff of the United States District Courts of the Southern District of New York struck a blow against the Securities and Exchange Commission and in support of the “public interest.” The Securities and Exchange Commission had asked the Court to approve a Consent Judgment between Citigroup and the S.E.C. Judge Rakoff (cutting to the chase) wrote he could not do so

Full text: Moody’s reviews European banks’ subordinated, junior and Tier 3 debt for downgrade

“While the need to preserve confidence may imply some continuing (though potentially declining) support for senior debt — given the potential for contagion across the banking system — the rationale for continuing to assume the willingness and ability to provide support for subordinated debt holders is much weaker.”

Ted Forstmann

Ted Forstmann was a sterling example in a tarnished field

FDIC-Insured Institutions Earned $35.3 Billion in The Third Quarter of 2011

Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported an aggregate profit of $35.3 billion in the third quarter of 2011, an $11.5 billion improvement from the $23.8 billion in net income the industry reported in the third quarter of 2010. This is the ninth consecutive quarter that earnings registered a year-over-year increase

What’s underneath the TARP?

The GAO says that issues with the TARP are not “material” and chooses instead to go with the less damning term of “significant”. A three-year record of getting it wrong would seem to suggest otherwise. We get that the $470 billion TARP was thrown together in a hurry. But to have “significant” issues with this extremely high-profile and unpopular corporate welfare program for three years running speaks of deliberate carelessness. Why on earth should we believe all the trumpeting about how profitable TARP has been when they can’t get the numbers right? In fact this all leaves me wondering: what’s really underneath that

Euro bank funding, collateral, and outlook

Bank borrowing from the ECB reach a new high for the year at today’s 7-day repo operation. Banks borrowed 247.17 bln euros for a week at 1.25% fixed rate.

The key question is what are banks doing with those euros. The answer is that banks appear to be recycling those funds by putting them on deposit with the

Full Text: Moody’s: Outlook for Ireland’s banking system remains negative

The following is the text of today’s Moody’s press release on the Irish banking system. London, 21 November 2011 — The outlook on Ireland’s banking system remains negative, says Moody’s Investors Service in a Banking System Outlook published today. The negative outlook has been in place since 2008 and continues to reflect (i) the banks’

AIG chairman says that you just don’t get it

It’s been almost three years to the day since AIG was bailed out. And guess what? AIG still owes taxpayers $49.4 BILLION! That’s more than half the budget of the Department of Education. What was that about taxpayers getting their money back, Steve? It’s not that we don’t “understand how this country works”, Steve. We understand it all too well–it works for you and your buddies on the AIG board. It’s not working out so well for the rest of us

Full Text: Moody’s takes rating actions on 12 German Landesbanken

The following is the text of the recent ratings action taken by Moody’s on twelve German state-owned banks

Those MF Global MFs!

We have a good friend with money tied up in the MF Global debacle. As of November 1st, he had close to $100K in his “segregated” futures account with no open positions. He says the MF Global website is shut down and the phones don’t ring when he calls. This guy was a “big swinging Richard” at one of Wall Street’s biggest firms and now trades his own account.

Here is his letter of rebuke to MF Global, which he passed on to us. Can you tell he is a little peeved