Bradford and Bingley

[Anton Gramscescu]

Bradford and Bingley

Tactical Genius wrote:

"You don't have a counter-factual here. You don't know how bad it would have been without the bail-out."

Are the "experts" really coming off with that bullshit?
I am definitly in the wrong industry.

I haven't heard anyone else say it, but it's the truth. You can't prove the money was wasted because there's no counter-factual.

And as Wyatt says, it's not a gift.

[Purves Grundy]

Bradford and Bingley

Seeing as the UK government will shortly be in posession of billions of pounds worth of bank shares bought at (at least, they'd fucking better have been bought at) hugely favourable rates, numerous friends of the Tory party will doubtless be licking their lips at the prospect of the muddy selloffs and kickbacks they stand to benefit from in 2 years.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Bradford and Bingley

And the NPS profits again!


Turns out after all the stock crashes, 3 of the top ten North American banks are now Canadian. This is because, in the words of a Nesbitt Burns analyst:

"...the fundamental difference between the Canadian and the U.S. banking systems is that Canada still effectively runs an on-balance-sheet banking system, while the U.S. does not,"

Bank stocks in the US have fallen almost 40% this year. In Canada, it's just ten percent. A south-of-the-border bank acquisition spree is expected shortly, just as soon as the blood dries.

[Ginger Yellow]

Bradford and Bingley

"...the fundamental difference between the Canadian and the U.S. banking systems is that Canada still effectively runs an on-balance-sheet banking system, while the U.S. does not,"

Funnily enough, one of the earliest severe casualties of the credit crisis was the Canadian asset backed commercial paper market. Investors had assumed that sponsor banks would provide liquidity, but they didn't. Unlike the US and European ABCP markets, the contracts included get-out clauses which Canadian banks happily took advantage of, causing widespread defaults. It's been the subject of a massive legal dispute for the last year.

So it would be mor accurate to say that Canada's off balance sheet banking system really was off balance sheet, while the US's was not.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Bradford and Bingley

Yes, that's probably true. It did allow us to beat everyone else and get this nonsense out of the way early, though.

What the analyst was referring to, though, was securitization. We have relatively little, compared to the US.

[Ginger Yellow]

Bradford and Bingley

True, although ABCP is a form of securitisation.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Bradford and Bingley

You're just not going to let me get away with shortahnd, are you?

Securitization of mortgages, to be precise.

[anton pulisov]

Bradford and Bingley

oh no! we've been giving away too much cheap credit!

quick, we must cut interest rates worldwide!

[Moonlight Shadow]

Bradford and Bingley

Well, I'm back from Geneva where a few of my friends work in the banking sector. Yesterday I was talking to one about the situation and today another one cancelled his lunch (not something he does lightly, lunch is important!) with me as the shit was hitting the fans again. As one pointed out, when the SMI (the Swiss stock exchange which as you can imagine is(was) very stable...) is up and down like a yo-yo, you know it's bad...

[garcia]

Bradford and Bingley

good timing by margaret atwood on her new book. the other day the FT had an extract

[Anton Gramscescu]

Bradford and Bingley

As I was saying...

Remain calm. We are from the NPS, and we are here to help.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Bradford and Bingley

Mmmm. Yeah OK, but I'm still wondering where 15% of my investment account has gone since the beginning of the year.

My jolly little man at RBC assures me my investment "exposure" is among the 1% lowest among investors — all in Bonds and cash, nothing in Europe, only 3% in the US etc. Still and all that's a lot of money. (Only on paper I realise, but...) Does that mean that 99% of Canadian investors have lost more than I have this week?

[ursus arctos]

Bradford and Bingley

All depends on his definition of "investor". If it doesn't include people who don't save material amounts, he's probably right.

Our net worth has actually increased in Euro terms this week due to the spike in the USD.

[Anton Gramscescu]

Bradford and Bingley

Amor de Cosmos wrote:

Mmmm. Yeah OK, but I'm still wondering where 15% of my investment account has gone since the beginning of the year.

My jolly little man at RBC assures me my investment "exposure" is among the 1% lowest among investors — all in Bonds and cash, nothing in Europe, only 3% in the US etc. Still and all that's a lot of money. (Only on paper I realise, but...) Does that mean that 99% of Canadian investors have lost more than I have this week?

Sounds like it. I appear to be about 25% off since the beginning of the year.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Bradford and Bingley

Ouch!

[Anton Gramscescu]

Bradford and Bingley

Fortunately I'm 30 years from retirement.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Bradford and Bingley

Yes, it's quite a bit more urgent in our case. I expect our investment income will be radically pruned next year.

[Ginger Yellow]

Bradford and Bingley

Words fail me.

[WOM]

Bradford and Bingley

That's madness. I'm getting back into tulip bulbs in a serious way.

[ursus arctos]

Bradford and Bingley

Property is the traditional refuge of Italians in times of inflation and devaluation, I wouldn't be surprised if people are doing that here as well (as well as buying gold and watches).

Though our friends are putting cash in their mattresses.

[ursus arctos]

Bradford and Bingley

Complete bloodbath in Europe this morning.

The FTSE 100 just dropped more than 200 points while the BBC World anchor was reading the quotes.

[Gangster Octopus]

Bradford and Bingley

It's down below 4,000. When was the last time it did that?

[caja-dglh]

Bradford and Bingley

April 2003

[Ginger Yellow]

Bradford and Bingley

Fuck me. I wake up, and all the European exchanges are down 8%-9%. Marvellous.

[Guest]

Bradford and Bingley

Go back to sleep.