Bankers cannot have it both ways

[BrilloPad]

the banking system cannot be allowed to do whatever it might like without interference. It cannot have it both ways - complete freedom of action in pursuit of profits - and taxpayer support to cushion losses.

taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/mai...31/ccom131.xml

Looks like bankers need a taste of their own medicine to me.

[threaded]

Yes, the feckless rich...

[threaded]

Yes, the flipless rich...

Interesting what the swear filter did there. Didn't know that was a naughty work.

Anyways, I was saying 'f e c k l e s s'.

[AtW]

The problem is with the leveraging - those guys are playing games without actually having money to backup if the game goes against them, which is what currently happening - they are losing so much money because they leveraged very heavily. Banks thought they were smart and created their own hedge funds for that thinking that the risk was insulated, but it certainly wasn't - and in any case such games that threaten stability of the system should not be allowed in the first place.

Naturally the price for this would be tens of thousands jobs lost in the City, but I am sure the whole country will their hearts bleeding for them.

[BrilloPad]

and in any case such games that threaten stability of the system should not be allowed in the first place.

Good point.

Also from the article - "It was both fully predictable and yet also deeply depressing that the FSA's response to its own failure in the Northern Rock episode was to demand more staff. "

Now if the FSA had been doing its job properly - concentrateing on the ewssential nature of banks instead of nit-picking over minor regulations - Northern Rock would (should) have been spotted sooner.

More staff will not solve the FSA issue - it is a mindset issue.

[threaded]

More staff will not solve the FSA issue - it is a mindset issue.

It is in the nature of bureaucracies. More staff will actually cause more problems. It'd be funny, if it wasn't so predictable.

[AtW]

I am not sure FSA does anything to be honest. They seem to be like the police - if something gets stolen the police would record crime to give you crime number so that you could claim it on your insurance, just like FSA - something screws up and they will get some bank to pay you up maybe, hardly a great example of regulation.

Or say those Russian IPOs on LSE, dodgy as heck, yet FSA cleared them just fine - those companies were mainly floating in London because they would have no chance in the USA as regulation there is much stricter for dodgy stocks like that. Yet, you'd have sasguru types who would say that this is what makes City so good, no bloody wonder - lax regulation was surely attractive to thiefs of all calibers and the City was duly taking its share only to screw up everyone and then call for taxpayer support: at least in this case the Japanese were making harakiri

[Tensai]

More staff will not solve the FSA issue - it is a mindset issue.

I can't be bothered to verify this, but I think it was the BBC's exonomics editor (Peston?) who I heard saying that the issue with the FSA's lack of performance was because they couldn't afford the hire the best brains - anyone good enough to spot the problems the banks were getting themselves into were hired by the banks in the first place.

So unless you pay competitive salaries, hiring more of the same calibre of people isn't going to solve the problem.....

[AtW]

So unless you pay competitive salaries, hiring more of the same calibre of people isn't going to solve the problem.....

Rubbish. The problem area with Northern Rock was obvious - they were too heavily dependent on markets to raise the money and their internal structure (most likely for tax reasons) forced them to sign new business all the time, so any issue with their ability to raise finance would be fatal.

Also, why does it require a very highly paid person to suggest that 125% morgages is not exactly a very good idea?

Apparently FSA had like 4 people dealing with NR - can you fking believe it, 4 people for a bank with £100 bln morgage book that took 20% of the morgage market last year? The mere fact that NR expanded so fast should have raised red flags immediately on quality of their customers and on exactly how stable they are.

[BrilloPad]

Rubbish. The problem area with Northern Rock was obvious - they were too heavily dependent on markets to raise the money and their internal structure (most likely for tax reasons) forced them to sign new business all the time, so any issue with their ability to raise finance would be fatal.

Also, why does it require a very highly paid person to suggest that 125% morgages is not exactly a very good idea?

Apparently FSA had like 4 people dealing with NR - can you fking believe it, 4 people for a bank with £100 bln morgage book that took 20% of the morgage market last year? The mere fact that NR expanded so fast should have raised red flags immediately on quality of their customers and on exactly how stable they are.

4 sounds 4 too many. they should have just a man down the pub. "Are 125% mortgagues a good idea?". "Is just relying on the money markets(a lot more volatile than depositors) a good way of raising cash?"

IMO 75% should be maximum mortgague advance by law - still higher than the 60% in Germany.