Germany: banking system collapse possible due to Hypo Real Estate

A week into the European leg of the meltdown of the global financial system, Germany has hit major turbulence. Hypo Real Estate, a member of the DAX-30, Germany’s equivalent of the Dow Jones Industrial Average looks to be on the verge of failing. According to the German Magazine Der Spiegel, the planned bailout of the

History shows US bank lending will be soft for years

Marshall Auerback here. I have a quick thought regarding the credit crisis and bank lending in the US. If the real purpose of the Paulson Plan is recapitalization more than reliquification, and if the Scandinavian public recaps of their banking systems can be held up as a successful example, then it may be worth taking

Wells Fargo to buy Wachovia

The deal everyone first expected to happen is now likely to proceed. Wells Fargo is set to buy Wachovia. Earlier this week, we heard that Wachovia was to be acquired by Citigroup, the beleaguered corporate behemoth that has written down over $50 billion during this credit crisis. What’s more is that Citigroup was only going

Hedge Funds

For a few months now, I have been wondering where all the hedge fund fallout from global market turmoil was hiding. Now it seems that the turmoil in the hedge fund world is becoming more apparent — hedge funds are imploding left and right according to the FT. This turn of events will mean one

Writedown news: 30 Sep 2008

For me, the most important events of late have been the European banking sector meltdown. Just last week, German officials were lecturing the UK and the U.S. about their banking systems and now we see a number of European institutions falling prey to the credit crisis. No one should feel their banking system is safe

Lehman gets $2.15 billion for Neuberger Berman

The price tag was less than one would have liked, but these are desperate times for sellers of financial assets. Lehman Brothers secured a sale of its crown jewel investment management division for $2.15 billion in a sale to private equity buyers. When Lehman Brothers first proposed a sale weeks ago while still a solvent

The U.S. financial system is effectively insolvent

I have said before that a systemic response is necessary to deal with the present banking crisis in the United States. This crisis has nothing to do with subprime assets and little to do with things like predatory lending. Those are issues that populists will use to prosecute the scapegoats we are likely to see down the line. The crisis has everything to do with low interest rates, zero regulation and a credit bubble of monumental proportions.

The banking system of the United States is effectively insolvent. Buying up $700 billion in assets is not going to solve this basic fact. A systemic response is needed. If we do not address these issues, we may see significant dead-weight loss as many institutions fail

Citigroup grabs Wachovia on the cheap

Wachovia Corporation has agreed to be bought out by Citigroup in a deal supported by the U.S. government. Exact terms of the deal are still forthcoming, but this could be seen as a best case scenario for a bank which was increasingly under stress due to the global credit crisis. In 2006 Wachovia’s shares changed

Bradford & Bingley may suffer Northern Rock’s fate

Earlier today I highlighted a number of banks that were under severe selling pressure in their respective home markets. This list included Fortis, Macquarie, NCC, Wachovia and CIT. The UK’s Bradford & Bingley is certainly on that list as well. In fact, the British daily “The Telegraph” is openly speculating whether B&B will be nationalized.

Fortis to speed asset sales

The Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis has come under pressure in the aftermath of the WaMu bankruptcy. With the credit markets seized up globally, weaker banks are being attacked regardless of nationality – Wachovia, NCC and CIT Group in the US, Bradford & Bingley in the UK, Macquarie in Australia, and Fortis in Benelux. These are truly

$700 Billion? Try $5 Trilion – So says Marc Faber

Faber thinks that the U.S. needs a lot more money than the Paulson Economic Patriot Act suggests. I agree 100%. His figure is $5 trillion! That’s a lot of dosh. Here is how he is quoted on Bloomberg: “The $700 billion is really nothing,” Faber said in a television interview. “The treasury is just giving

Lehman’s gone, WaMu’s toast, who’s next?

Judging from today’s open on Wall Street, it looks like that’s the question people are asking. Wachovia and NCC are the two companies under the heaviest selling pressure, both down about 20% already at 9:45. Remember that National City is under OCC scrutiny. That is the sort of problem that led to massive deposit withdrawals