What happened to the whipping boy of bank capital?

This week, financial markets were spooked by the write-down of Additional Tier 1 securities of Credit Suisse. Soon after the writedown, a discussion ensued regarding its legitimacy. One camp argues that investors in these securities should have read the instruction manual. See the pointy opinion piece in IFR by Prasad Gollakota, the former co-head of… Read More What happened to the whipping boy of bank capital?

Five years after the first Basel III coco issuance, the Netherlands “gets” CoCos.

Uh oh, Jeroen Dijsselbloem form the Netherlands got into rough water this week: Dutch newspaper NRC had a nice scoop that showed how he relied on ING word smiths for writing a tax rule that renders bank capital instruments (CoCos) tax deductible, see full freedom of information documentation here. How bad is this? End 2013,… Read More Five years after the first Basel III coco issuance, the Netherlands “gets” CoCos.

UPDATE: The EBA’s laudable effort to tame Additional Tier 1 issuances

Today, the EBA held a public hearing on the 4 May report on AT1 issuances, see my previous post on this. Click here for the PowerPoint that the EBA prepared. Apparently no surprises. On the hot topic of Contingent Clauses, the EBA reports that it “confirms its previous reserves, and recommends disallowing contingent clauses”. A… Read More UPDATE: The EBA’s laudable effort to tame Additional Tier 1 issuances

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