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’Quantum leap: EuroTARP
The FT’s report yesterday that policy makers may finally be getting around to throwing a TARP over European banks has sure got people talking. Will Dexia go down as the unwitting catalyst to addressing the lingering questions around bank solvency? And has the feedback loop between banks and their sovereigns been recognised as the death spiral that it is?
For an overview,
Eurozone crisis porn
For those who get a vicarious thrill from watching the eurozone sovereign debt crisis and imagining how it might end (like you – Ed.) will seriously enjoy Wednesday’s scribblings from David Zervos,
Euro-Tarp, abridged
Not just sovereign debt: there’s also vague talk afoot that the EFSF might be directed to purchase bank equity. So we liked this guide to the (weak) pros and (strong) cons from Nomura. Cut out and keep!
Related link:
Taibbi takes aim at the Talf
Yeah, so — the Talf was a scam. That much we knew from the get-go.
What we didn’t know was that a pair of Reiki-loving Wall Street wives had a crack at it. That nugget’s contained in the latest from Matt Taibi — the hyperbolic Rolling Stones writer of vampire sqid fame.
The final COP Tarp report
Because estimates for the ultimate cost of Tarp have been declining continuously for some time now, it’s easy to forget that the CBO once expected the program to cost taxpayers a staggering $356bn.
Now the CBO pegs the final cost at just (erm,
Gaelic TALF, and other bizarre Irish bank fixes
Amazing stuff on Friday from Fine Gael, the party that’s likely to take power in Ireland’s elections later this month, on their policies for fixing Ireland’s bailed-out banks.
Previously, Fine Gael have blown hot and cold on whether to burn Irish banks’ senior bondholders (the subordinated debt is already toast).
The shrinking, shirking Tarp
As if it couldn’t get any rosier: $25bn is the new bargain basement Tarp cost, according to figures out Tuesday from the Congressional Budget Office.
This is an ostensible snip compared to recent, relatively whopping estimates from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at $113bn in October 2010 and the CBO’s previous forecast of $66bn in August 2010.
Tarp UK
This might put a smile back on the face of Steve Morgan, the Mr Angry of UK housebuilding.
It’s a policy paper from Fathom Financial Consulting that says the Bank of England should think about using quantitative easing to buy-up bad mortgages.
CDO lemons, a government fruit bowl
‘Asymmetric information’ in Collateralised Debt Obligations is not a good thing.
That much we know from Goldman Sachs’ Abacus 2007-AC1 CDO and, err, Goldman Sachs’ Abacus 2006-13 and Abacus 2006-17 deals.
The AIG Wars
Oh dear, it’s the battle of the government agencies. Over AIG.
And specifically, the US Treasury vs SigTarp.
The special inspector general for the US’s Troubled Asset Relief Program has just published its quarterly report to Congress,
Why does everyone hate Tarp?
Ahead of Tarp’s expiration on October 3, a number of commentators and bloggers this week have been discussing its failure — not the failure of its performance, but of its public image to reflect its performance.
Tarp-edoed dividends
Last week the US Treasury released its May Tarp report.
The department was quick to herald a milestone in the programme; Tarp repayments to taxpayers had, for the first time, surpassed the total amount of Tarp funds outstanding.
Alleged Tarp fraud at The Park Avenue Bank [UPDATED]
Watch this space: at 1pm ET on Monday, Tarp overlord Neil Barofsky will discuss the arrest of one Charles J Antonucci Sr, the former president and chief executive of the (failed) Park Avenue Bank in New York.
‘The most serious wave of commercial real estate difficulties is just now beginning’
Here’s one of the scariest sentences you will (in all likelihood) read today:
That’s from the latest Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) report, and it is all about — you guessed it — commercial real estate in the US.
A different government view on CMBS
The United States Government Accountability Office published its report on the US government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program last Friday.
It’s a voluminous work, but definitely worth perusing if you have time as it offers some very interesting detail into the implementation of the Tarp and related programs thus far,
Goldman overpay? Surely some mistake
Here’s something we missed last week — the US Treasury’s Tarp warrant report.
The US government, you’ll remember, received a bunch of long-dated options in return for bailing-out various banks — to the tune of $205bn — in 2008 and 2009.
BofA posts Q4 loss of $0.60 a share, net loss of $194m
Third on the list of big US banks to report fourth-quarter earnings is Bank of America.
The bank had been expected to lose 52 cents a share on revenue of $26.84bn, but looks to have missed those expectations,
How the IRS sort-of-saved Citi
Who says the IRS isn’t, umm, understanding?
The US tax authority exempted the Citigroup, and some other bailed-out companies, from rules which would otherwise have led to the troubled bank losing $38bn worth of tax credits.
Parsing Pandit, or ‘I am sick of working for $1 per year’
Independent research firm Portales Partners on Wednesday issued the pithiest take we’ve seen on Vikram Pandit’s internal memo regarding Citi’s Tarp repayment.
We quote:
Interpretation of the Day: Deconstructing Vikram Pandit’s internal memo on Citigroup’s (C) TARP repayment…
Citigroup:
CDS report: Pulling the TARP back
Markit’s Otis Casey wrote this CDS report
Market focus shifted a bit to events in the US today. Wholesale prices in November were up 1.8% which was well above estimates, sparking renewed inflation
Geithner moots Tarp exemptions
Tim Geithner on Thursday argued that small businesses should be exempt from restrictions attached to the bank bail-out programme that large banks such as Citi and Goldman Sachs have been anxious to escape.
BofA repays Tarp debts
Bank of America has fully repaid the US government the $45bn in aid it gained in the financial crisis, the bank said on Wednesday, reports Reuters. The bank sent the US Treasury a mix of cash from its corporate coffers and money raised as part of a $19.29bn securities offering earlier this week to settle its outstanding TARP debt.
Bank of America’s $45bn cheque to the Treasury
As expected, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has joined the likes of JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in repaying US taxpayers’ their hard-earned Tarp-allocated cash.
Bank of America today sent the U.S.
Still intoxicated
The problem of toxic assets on banks’ balance sheets has not been dealt with and still poses a significant risk to the recovery of the US economy, according to a report out on Tuesday by the Congressional Oversight Panel,
Morgan Stanley to buy back Tarp warrants
Morgan Stanley is to pay $950m to sever yet another link to the US government’s bail-out plan, buying back warrants it gave the authorities as part of a $10bn capital injection last year. The bank said the redemption of the warrants,
Goldman sheds bail-out legacy
Goldman Sachs became the first major bank to buy back warrants held by the US Treasury on Wednesday, allowing the group to shake off the last vestige of its participation in the government bail-out programme after just nine months.