banks

TARP Bank Recipients Have Offshore Tax Havens

The GAO released a new report, International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries in Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions recently (see bottom right hand corner).

International Taxation: Large U.S. Corporations and Federal Contractors with Subsidiaries in Jurisdictions Listed as Tax Havens or Financial Privacy Jurisdictions, December 18, 2008

The Washington Post went further to see which of the TARP recipients also have offshore tax havens:

American International Group, Bank of America, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are among the companies that are getting bailed out by U.S. taxpayers while having subsidiaries in locations where they can avoid paying U.S. taxes

Report Says Banks to Slash Credit Card Limits by $2 Trillion

No more charge it now when you don't got it?

Credit card companies may slash credit limits on credit cards by $2 trillion dollars.

Whitney, an analyst and managing director at Oppenheimer & Co. who predicted the current financial-services industry meltdown, now says credit-card issuers will eliminate more than $2 trillion in available credit over the next 18 months.

I'm not sure if they can lower credit limits when one has already used it, but for all of those who are losing their jobs and probably credit cards will be the last option, this is not good news.

The Spending Continues - Fed Increases by 8.5% Commercial Paper in 1 Week

These guys can't even take the Holiday off. In one week, the Federal Reserve increased by 8.5% it's commercial paper (business loans).

The Federal Reserve expanded its purchases of commercial paper to $295.1 billion and its loans to securities firms increased as the central bank uses its balance sheet to combat the worst financial crisis in seven decades.

Cash borrowing by Wall Street bond dealers from the Fed totaled $55.9 billion on Nov. 26, up from $46.6 billion a week before.

Europe Commits $1.8 Trillion to Bail out Banks

Good God, where is my personal printing press.


EU Nations Commit 1.3 Trillion Euros to Bank Bailouts

France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and Austria committed 1.3 trillion euros ($1.8 trillion) to guarantee bank loans and take stakes in lenders, racing to prevent the collapse of the financial system

The greatest risk is in inertia - Sarkozy

UK May Sue Iceland

UK May Sue Iceland.

This whole story is just bizarre. Iceland nationalized the banks but now the UK wants their money that is in them.

Iceland debts are 12 times their total GDP. They Nationalized the banks because they are trying to stop bank runs.

It seems Iceland had high inflation as well as interest rates and all of Europe decided to go banking there as a result.

It's not quite clear how Iceland managed to end up with a host of bad debt but we certainly know the bad asset ponzi scheme was shuffled around the globe. I doubt the fishing shacks of Iceland were subprime.

RGE Monitor gives us the details on how such a situation arose:

Is the street smelling a fight ahead?

It's almost 3am here in Chicago, and the S&P futures are down 9 points, while the Dow is down almost 60, not to mention the NASDAQ 100 being down almost 10. Now perhaps this is simply profit-taking from those two monster rallies last week. But from what I'm hearing, this plan by Paulson isn't a sure fire pass. There seems to be some resistance forming, and I think The Street smells a fight coming.

Just a Little FDIC News - 117 Banks in Big Trouble, Profits Plunge 86%

Today is all DNC, all of the time to the point one is about to get absolutely nauseated listening to these 24/7 Cable pundit talking heads rambling on like Charlie Brown's teacher ...

so it's a very good time to release some bad news right?

The FDIC reports:

117 banks and thrifts were considered to be in trouble in the second quarter, up from 90 in the prior quarter and the biggest tally since mid-2003.

of course hidden further IndyMac will cost more:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp said on Tuesday it now expects IndyMac's failure in July to cost its insurance fund $8.9 billion, compared with the previous expected range of $4 billion to $8 billion

UK Central Bank warns of Great Depression - Yes "D" word!

Wow, either something is really awry or ....maybe our sky is falling event really is coming:

The Royal Bank of Scotland is warning of a global market crash.

Really from 2007, bit a fear mongering here:

Bankiing Times reports:

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the organisation that fosters cooperation between central banks, has warned that the credit crisis could lead world economies into a crash on a scale not seen since the 1930s.

In its latest quarterly report, the body points out that the Great Depression of the 1930s was not foreseen and that commentators on the financial turmoil, instigated by the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, may not have grasped the level of exposure that lies at its heart.

Citigroup Could lose Biggest Bank Status

Citigroup Could Lose Status as Biggest Bank:

Pandit, who took Citi's reins in December, said Friday he expects to shed $400 billion of assets he inherited within the next three years. Two-thirds of the divestitures will come from the company's troubled consumer banking division.

If Citi were $400 billion thinner today, it would have about $1.79 trillion of assets, just ahead of Bank of America Corp. (BAC), which cracked the scales with $1.74 trillion of assets at the end of its first quarter on March 31. When Bank of America completes its planned acquisition of Countywide Financial Corp. (CFC) later this year, it would surpass Citigroup, even with Countrywide's rapidly deteriorating mortgage assets.
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