‘Worst Bank Scenario’ a book that should spark a discussion on bank supervision

My review of a fascinating book on swaps, derivatives, and Dutch supervisory shenanigans by Hester Bais and Wink Sabée The book by Hester Bais and Wink Sabée documents poor conduct by banks in the Netherlands during the first decades of the century. Warning: for non-Dutch readers, the book is only in Dutch now, but I… Read More ‘Worst Bank Scenario’ a book that should spark a discussion on bank supervision

Double leverage, a regulatory tribulation

Last week, the UK Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) published a consultation paper on group policy and double leverage, in which the PRA wants to limit the risks arising from excessive double leverage. The consultation paper and the associated speech by Sam Woods received some coverage, though the ECM addendum on Non-Performing Loans probably attracted more… Read More Double leverage, a regulatory tribulation

The Italian DTAs

Today the Wall Street Journal reported on an alleged loophole in EU bank capital rules. The loophole pertains to deferred tax assets (DTAs), a regulatory area where tax rules and accounting rules meet. Apparently some countries exploit a DTA loophole: Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Uh oh, these countries, the usual suspects. There is something really wrong here.… Read More The Italian DTAs

Bank capital on track

Today both the EBA and the Basel committee published their Basel III monitoring reports. These reports measure the progress banks make regarding the implementation of the new bank capital rules.   The results look encouraging, banks have added capital since the April 2009 G20, shortfalls are lower than before, and not near the voodoo stories… Read More Bank capital on track

Caveat emptor? We should probably do more than tell banks how to sell CoCos.

Last week, the three European financial regulators warned financial institutions that they should tread carefully when it comes to marketing CoCos: capital securities that may convert or be written off when a bank gets into trouble. The warning may have been prompted by the failure of UK’s Co-operative bank or Dutch bank SNS. These failures bailed-in… Read More Caveat emptor? We should probably do more than tell banks how to sell CoCos.