Barclays. RBS. Lloyds Banking Group. HSBC. Standard Chartered. Credit Suisse. UBS. Deutsche Bank. U.S. based Banks. Citigroup. Bank of America. Goldman Sachs. Wells Fargo. JPMorgan. The 2008/9 bailouts... Taming the Too-Big-to-Fails: Will DoddâFrank Be the Ticket or Is Lap-Band Surgery Required?, Nov. 15, 2011 - Richard Fisher Speeches - News & Events - FRB Dallas.
(With Reference to Vinny Guadagnino, Andrew Haldane, Paul Volcker, John Milton, Tom Hoenig and Churchill’s ‘Terminological Inexactitude’ ) Remarks before Columbia University’s Politics and Business Club It is bracing to be with bright, young students here at the Politics and Business Club of Columbia University. I understand I have a high bar today: I need to surmount the heights reached in the insightful lecture recently given your undergraduate students by Vinny Guadagnino from the show Jersey Shore. I’ll do my best. Executive Summary Today, I will speak to the issue of depository institutions considered “too big to fail” and “systemically important.” To this last point, my colleague and director of research at the Dallas Fed, Harvey Rosenblum, and I have written about how too-big-to-fail banks disrupt the transmission of policy initiatives. Paul ‘Moses’ and John Milton On previous occasions, I have referred to Paul Volcker as the Moses of central bankers.
The Billion-Dollar Bank Heist. Financial sector reguatory reform?
TBTF - curators... The Case For and Against Too-Big-to-Fail Banks. Breaking up big banks: As usual, benefits come with a side of costs, by David Altig. macroblog: Probably the least controversial proposition among an otherwise very controversial set of propositions on which financial reform proposals are based is that institutions deemed "too big to fail" (TBTF) are a real problem. As Fed Chairman Bernanke declared not too long ago: As the crisis has shown, one of the greatest threats to the diversity and efficiency of our financial system is the pernicious problem of financial institutions that are deemed "too big to fail. " The next question, of course, is how to deal with that threat. At this point the debate gets contentious.
One popular suggestion for dealing with the TBTF problem is to just make sure that no bank is "too big. " Two scholars leading that charge are Simon Johnson and James Kwak (who are among other things the proprietors at The Baseline Scenario blog). They make their case in the New York Times' Economix feature:
The Banking Oligopoly. Big Bank Chart. Four Years After the Meltdown: The Global Economy and Financial System Still At Risk. Banking Titans Call for Break Up of “Too Big to Fail” Numerous Top Bankers Call for Break Up of Giant Banks. The following bankers are calling for the big banks to be broken up: -Former Citi CEO Sandy Weill-Former Citi CEO John Reed-Former Citi chairman Richard Parsons-Former Merrill Lynch chairman and CEO David Komansky-Former Morgan Stanley CEO Philip Purcell-Former managing director of Goldman Sachs – and head of the international analytics group at Bear Stearns in London- Nomi Prins-Numerous other bankers within the mega-banks (see this, for example)-Former Natwest and Schroders investment banker, Philip Augar-The President of the Independent Community Bankers of America, Camden Fine Top Economists and Financial Experts Agree It’s not just bankers.
The following top economists and financial experts believe that the economy cannot recover unless the big, insolvent banks are broken up in an orderly fashion: Category: Bailouts, Really, really bad calls, Regulation. Quelle Surprise! OCC Confirms that Big Banks are Badly Managed, Lack Adequate Risk Management Controls.
American Banker has an article up that is astonishing in that it tells us that the main regulator of national banks, the OCC, has confirmed one of our ongoing complaints : that the controls at the biggest banks are inexcusably weak. The OCC is the last place you’d expect to hear this from; historically it’s been a major enabler of banks playing fast and loose with the rules. And the implication is that bank execs should be wearing orange jumpsuits rather than getting multi-million pay packages. Recall that this blog has inveighed repeatedly that the officialdom had a clear and easy path to prosecuting bank executives by using Sarbanes Oxley.
From a 2011 post : Contrary to prevailing propaganda, there is a fairly straightforward case that could be launched against the CEOs and CFOs of pretty much every US bank with major trading operations. With that in mind, get a load of the opening paragraphs of the American Banker story: Think corporate governance at the largest banks is weak? Banks Are Manipulating Gold and Silver Markets.