How not to resolve a banking crisis

Much of macroeconomic policymaking is trial and error. This column discusses calamitous error on the part of Iceland’s policymakers, in the hope that others can at least try something else

Dexia is seeking a new brand name

Belgian newspaper De Standarad reports that the folks at twice bailed out Franco-Belgian bank Dexia are looking for a new name for the company. Apparently, the Dexia brand has been tarnished.

Dexia is Belgium’s version of NCNB, now Bank of America, a small bank that grew enormously through expansion and acquisition

Full Text: Moody’s downgrades Spanish savings bank CAM to B3;

On Friday, I asked why CAM’s credit default swaps were soaring. This is why? Clearly someone had inside information

“Dexia was not a bank but a hedge fund”

If you recall Global Macro Monitor’s post on Europe’s Bank Problem last week, the IMF chart showed very well how banks were struggling to wean themselves from short-term funding sources and increase tangible common equity. The Belgians had made Herculean strides in this effort. But it has not been enough

Belgium will nationalise Dexia this weekend

Franco-Belgian bank Dexia is being officially nationalised according to two Belgian newspapers

Zulauf: 20% downside risk from the market’s intraday May high

Point for point, I agree with the commentary from Felix Zulauf in this week’s Barron’s mid-year roundtable discussion. For long-time Credit Writedowns readers, you will recognize almost every one of these points from previous posts. It is nice to see it all distilled so cogently in one place. This is a must-read. Subscribe if you must. Much more at the link below

Car Sales Rise $23 Billion

by Annaly Capital Management Okay, so this wasn’t the exact headline after GM’s record setting capital raise this week. Including over-allotment option, the offering of common and preferred stock should bring the total dollars raised to $23 billion, making it the biggest IPO ever done. Of that amount, approximately $4.8 billion will be netted by

Gross Urges ‘Full Nationalization’ of Housing Finance

From Bloomberg: Bill Gross, who runs the world’s biggest bond fund at Pacific Investment Management Co., said the U.S. should consider “full nationalization” of the mortgage- finance system as the Obama administration plots the revival of a market that was at the center of the 2008 credit crisis. “To suggest that there’s a large place

CajaSur nationalization makes fragility of Spain’s banks topical

Last spring and summer I wrote a series of articles on the bleak situation in Spain, centred on the Spanish Cajas (savings banks), the imploded housing market and the high level of unemployment.  The gist of these posts was that Spain faced an uphill battle since the jobs market was in a world of hurt

Sweden did not nationalize its entire banking system

I hadn’t intended to write this post, but I caught the back end of a lot of chatter about the Swedish banking crisis response and needed to set the record straight on what actually happened in Sweden. Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote what I would consider to be a full-throated defense of the Geithner-Obama bailouts earlier

Sheila Bair blames the Fed for the credit crisis

Sheila Bair is a straight shooter. And as such, she laid it on the line today in her prepared remarks before Congress.  Her remarks were on the money on several counts. I will highlight just a few with commentary followed by the relevant quotes. A link to the testimony is provided at the end. Notice

Fire Geithner Now!

This is a post which originally appeared at New Deal 2.0 by Randall Wray on why President Obama needs a new economic team, starting with Tim Geithner. L. Randall Wray, Ph.D. is Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Research Director with the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and Senior Research