BBC Blog Network

User Profile

johnmkeynes

Listed below are comments made by johnmkeynes between Sunday, 14th September 2008 and Tuesday, 21st April 2009.

«Newer
Older»

IMF vs Treasury and FSA 8:22pm on 21 Apr 2009 In an economic and statistical debate between the IMF and the FSA I know which, based on its track-record, I would judge to be the more credible and reliable....and it isn't the FSA.
British banks bailed out 12:19pm on 03 Oct 2008 Is everyone else surprised that Andy Hornby is still CEO at HBOS?
B&B collapse to cost City £9bn 12:37pm on 29 Sep 2008 Robert,

A bit light on detail I'm afraid. What are the answers to these question.

How is the interest rate being calculated?
What is the actual rate being charged?
Is it a daily rate?
Is it fixed or is it referenced from an official rate, if so, which one?
Why is the repayment of 450m being allowed so far in arrears (a full 12months from today)

As this is public money that we're talking about we should have a right to know.
Interbank hysteria 9:00pm on 24 Sep 2008 No. 40

How quickly do you envisage that it would take for the UK to ditch Sterling and join the Euro.

Here's a clue.

During the early part of this decade when the Treasury was working through the tests that had to be satisfied before a decision to recommend joining the Euro was put before parliament, the UK banking industry was required to start planning for the eventuality. The timeline, from start to finish, was measured in years.

Let's just take a simple example. How quickly do you think that the UK's ATMs can be converted to dispense Euro notes? The UK's current notes are a different size to Euro notes you know.

Or were you envisaging that we'd keep our current notes and use them at a Euro equivalent value? So a £5 note would be worth xxEuro and yycent...remember it won't be a round number of Euros 'cos of the currency conversion rate? Do you see a few problems with that? How do you think the population at large would cope?

The current financial crisis is likely to be over, one way or another, a long time before the UK would be geared up to join the Euro.
Interbank hysteria 8:34pm on 24 Sep 2008 No. 34
...Let the bad banks fail and the good ones (or the central banks) pick up the pieces.

It's that simple...

Let's just work this one through a little shall we.

Who do you think are the 'good banks' and who are the 'bad banks'?

Even supposing that it was possible to identify them have you considered that even the 'good banks' will have some exposure on their balance sheets to the 'bad banks' debts.

What do you think will happen to the 'good banks' if one or more of the 'bad banks' goes bankrupt? Do you imagine that they will survive unscathed?

Who do think Ford, GM, Boeing and other US multi-nationals bank with? Just the 'good banks', or possibly the 'bad banks too?

What do you imagine will be the impact on those companies and others, and private individuals too, if the bank they do business with goes bankrupt? Do you imagine that the companies will be able to meet their wage bills or pay their suppliers without a bank?

If you're a supplier and you've not been paid by Ford, how long will you be able to stay in business? If you're a Ford employee who hasn't been paid, how will you pay for food, or your mortgage?

It's that simple is it? Get real.
Paulson's monster 4:24pm on 21 Sep 2008 14. At 2:29pm on 21 Sep 2008, thowze wrote:

And with all this money there is not one mention of how the credit derivative contracts will be handled which are the true problem concentrated in the US. As an American, I feel this hands far too much money and authority to one person. But with all the additions others want to add to the proposal, it will be interesting to see if it gets passed at all.

If you don't understand what is going on with credit derivatives, here is an credit derivative primer article:

http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/amerman/2008/0917.html

That's a really interesting article. Thanks for posting the link.
HBOS: too big to fail 08:42am on 17 Sep 2008 A touch superficial Robert. Lets ask some more questions.

If HBOS feels the current situation is an over-reaction why was the £4bn rights issue met with a lack of enthusiasm by shareholders? The vast majority of the issue was picked up by the underwriters wasn't it because the share price had bombed so much since the offer?

Have HBOS approached the BoE for funding over the past week as part of the BoE's ongoing support of liquidity in the market? If yes, how much for?

Have they quantified, if any, their exposure to Lehmans?

How have HBOS assured you that they can meet their funding commitments in future months?

They may be too big to fail, but that doesn't negate the impression that shareholders have lost confidence in HBOS management and the company's strategy. If shareholders have lost confidence it's only a small step for depositors to lose confidence too.
Profiting from fear 11:24am on 16 Sep 2008 So let me get this straight...the Chancellor is uncomfortable with a practise that is legitimate.

He swiftly passes the buck to the FSA, not wanting to sully his hands with a potentially awkward decision.

The FSA, which has already proved itself to have been 'asleep at the wheel' in the weeks before the run on Northern Rock, is now expected to make a swift decision? Dream on.

When will these clowns learn. We're either a free market economy or we're not.

If the Chancellor, the FSA and the CEO of HBOS (and the other banks for that matter) don't like what's happening to their share price that's just tough.

The shares are worth what someone is prepared to sell and buy them for. End of story.
Lehman: Barclays walks 6:51pm on 14 Sep 2008 Not long to wait now until we find out what happens when a major investment bank goes 'belly up'.

How many more dominoes will fall as a result of this and who will be the next one?

«Newer
Older»

^ Back to top

BBC MMVI

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites

BBC.co.uk

BBC Blog Network

Find and talk to the BBC's bloggers.

User Profile

johnmkeynes