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’The Volcker rule, the impact on IDBs (part III)
Posted by Neil Hume on Jan 22 09:18. Comment.And completing our mini series of analyst reaction — some commentary on what Glass-Steagall III means for inter-dealer brokers.
To begin with here’s Philip Middleton of BofA Merrill Lynch on Icap:
Big issues – scope, More…
The Volcker rule, the European analysts react (part II)
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 22 08:57. Comment.Next up on our compendium of analyst reaction — some commentary from the European analysts.
And, as with the US banks, it’s notable that opinion is also rather divided about the potential impacts of Obama’s financial reform proposals on European banks. More…
The Volcker rule, the US analysts react (part I)
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 22 08:43. Comment.And how.
We’ve got a range of analyst opinion for you on Friday morning, in reaction to President Barack Obama’s sweeping proposals to reform Wall Street. Opinion is still rather divided however.
To begin with, More…
FT Alphaville does the Glass-Steagall Sequel
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 21 16:38. Comment.FT Alphaville is holding a special Markets Live session in light of Obama’s proposals.
The man with Obama’s ear
Posted by Paul Murphy on Jan 21 16:30. Comment.The mighty Paul Volcker, of course.
Wall Street was in a spin on Thursday as everyone awaited firm details on the Obama administration’s move to ban proprietary trading by deposit-taking institutions — an action that has inevitably been dubbed the Glass-Steagall sequel. More…
Bye bye prop desks?
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Jan 21 10:07. Comment.They’ve been accused of generating market anomalies, too much risk taking, and an ever present conflict of interest.
We are, of course, talking about institutional prop trading desks.
And it seems President Obama may have now pinned them down as the hub of unhealthy business practices in banking. More…
Dear Wall Street: you can blame the media for that levy
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Jan 14 16:45. Comment.We hope this doesn’t prejudice any bankers against certain pink financial newspapers or websites, but according to Reuters on Thursday (emphasis ours):
RTRS-OBAMA SAYS “FINANCIAL CRISIS RESPONSIBILITY FEE” More…
The back-of-the-envelope bank levy
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 14 16:29. Comment.An exercise.
(Reuters) Obama’s bailout fee would be approximately 15 basis points, or 0.15 percentage point, of covered liabilities. This would be determined by looking at a firm’s total assets and subtracting their tier one capital, More…
Tell Obama to stop fcrting about
Posted by Paul Murphy on Jan 14 14:46. Comment.Crisis levy, crunch tax, bailout fee…surely there’s a better name for the Obama administration’s belated Wall Street clawback than the Financial Crisis Responsibility Tax?
Senior bankers, testifying before the FCIC about CDS and CDOs and other stuff, More…
Details of that Wall Street levy
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Jan 14 11:33. Comment.Any Wall Street types who slept in on Thursday will be in for a bit of a shock when they wake up — the details of the Obama administration’s banking levy have emerged.
Via Reuters, emphasis ours:
RTRS-OBAMA TO PROPOSE FEE OF 15 BASIS POINTS ON COVERED LIABILITIES OF ELIGIBLE FIRMS, More…
Obama under fire over dollar
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Oct 08 04:40. Comment.The depreciation of the US dollar is sparking growing jitters among US critics of the Obama administration over the potential loss of America’s reserve currency status. Economists point out that a declining dollar could prove a boon to the US economy in the absence of credible anxiety over inflation. More…
Obama seeks Wall Street support
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Sep 15 04:52. Comment.President Barack Obama on Monday sought to capitalise on the anniversary of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers to urge Wall Street to co-operate with Congress to enact the “most ambitious overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression”. More…
Obama to pledge financial reform
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Sep 14 04:58. Comment.President Barack Obama will use a speech coinciding with this week’s anniversary of Lehman Brothers’ collapse to pledge to implement financial reforms, including powers to seize failing financial companies. More…
The glass house of James K. Glassman
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Sep 07 11:59. Comment.Please welcome James K. Glassman — the just-selected head of former Republican president, George W. Bush’s new Texas think tank.
From the George W. Bush Foundation press release:
FORMER THINK TANK SCHOLAR AND STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL JAMES K. More…
Quote du jour, economist dining edition
Posted by Tracy Alloway on May 06 08:30. Comment.From a Newsweek article titled “Prisoners of the White House“:
In fact, Paul Krugman seems a little bit testy about the contents of his dinner (conversation).
Presidential finance
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Apr 16 10:40. Comment.Barack Obama’s 2008 tax return has been released by the White House.
The summary: Obama made nearly $2.5m off his memoirs. He filed jointly with wife Michele Obama, reporting adjusted gross income of $2,656,902, More…
Gordon greets…
Posted by Izabella Kaminska on Apr 02 09:50. Comment.Is it us, or was watching Gordon Brown meet & greet G20 leaders meticulously one-by-one as they arrived at London’s Excel centre on Thursday a bit like watching an over-excited 16-year-old girl greeting her first guests to her super-sixteen party? He was so overjoyously excited.President Obama turned up among the earlier ‘arrivals’, More…
Obama calls for G20 ‘unity’
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Mar 30 05:14. Comment.President Barack Obama has voiced optimism that this week’s crucial G20 summit will set the framework for recovery, saying that leaders know they must “deliver a strong message of unity” on the global economy. Speaking to the FT ahead of the April 2 summit in London, Obama played down talk of a split between the US and key European economies. He also admitted it would be difficult to ask the Congress for more money to recapitalise the US banking system until voters are convinced Wall Street is not misusing the money. Read more on the Obama interview here.
Restructure or punish? Bonus rage wins, for now
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Mar 20 08:37. Comment.Is America’s escalating ‘bonus rage’ eclipsing all those lesser, irritating issues such as teetering financial institutions, an imploding banking system and a half-formed Cabinet? No laughing matter but as one research house comments in a note on Friday, More…
US Treasury officials picked for crisis battle
Posted by Stacy-Marie Ishmael on Mar 09 05:19. Comment.Barack Obama, the US president, announced his choices for three top Treasury jobs on Sunday in an effort to fill key positions that have remained vacant while his administration battles the financial and economic crisis. More…
Obama attacks ‘shameful’ bonus binge
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Jan 30 05:51. Comment.US president Barack Obama lashed out Thursday at “shameful” Wall Street executives for claiming billions of dollars in bonuses while their stricken institutions asked taxpayers for support. His remarks came in response to a report showing that financial sector employees received $18.4bn in bonuses last year, More…
Multiplier datapoint du jour
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Jan 29 19:07. Comment.Congressional Budget Office Director Doug Elmendorf’ testimony before the US’ Budget Committee throws up an interesting tidbit:
As a reminder, Obama’s $819bn stimulus bill, which passed the US House of Representatives on Wednesday, is split into $544bn for public spending and $275bn in tax cuts for individuals and businesses. More…
Obama plans $300bn in tax cuts
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Jan 05 05:44. Comment.President-elect Barack Obama plans to include about $300bn in tax cuts for workers and businesses in his economic recovery programme, advisers said Sunday, as his team seeks to win over Congressional skeptics worried about his focus on government spending, More…
Obama expands goals of stimulus
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Dec 22 05:43. Comment.US president-elect Barack Obama has expanded the goals of his proposed economic stimulus, with a plan to create or save an additional 500,000 jobs. Obama raised his jobs target over the next two years to 3m, More…
Obama to focus on stimulus not deficit
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Dec 08 05:45. Comment.Barack Obama on Sunday spelled out plans for the biggest infrastructure investment in the US for half a century and called for tighter regulation of the financial industry. The president-elect argued that with the economy reeling, More…
Obama pledges to shore up economy
Posted by Gwen Robinson on Nov 25 05:47. Comment.Barack Obama on Monday said his proposed stimulus package would be as big as necessary to shore up the economy and lay the foundations for renewed growth, amid predictions it could match the government’s $700bn financial sector bail-out for size. More…
CDS wrap: The week in review
Posted by FT Alphaville on Nov 07 15:53. Comment.This CDS report was written by Markit’s Gavan Nolan
Barack Obama’s acceptance speech this week tried to play down the sky-high expectations bestowed upon him. It suggested that he is all too aware of the parlous state of the US economy. More…
Hedge funds: “Yes, we can!”
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Nov 05 15:43. Comment.What a curious relationship exists between newly-elected US President Barack Obama and hedge funds.
The industry has donated over $1m to Obama’s campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org (small change to a hedge fund manager, More…
Dollar *danger* ahead
Posted by Tracy Alloway on Nov 05 09:55. Comment.Well, the one thing the US government might have had going forward was the strength of the dollar, which, despite America’s economic weakness, low rates and some evidence of Japan-style quantitative easing, More…