Bank of England

Mark-To-Market Manipulation Hides $90 BILLION Losses For UK Banks

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– Mark-To-Market Manipulation Hides $90 Billion Losses For UK Banks (ZeroHedge, March 12, 2013):

Some have attributed the resurrection of the financial markets (or more appropriately the banks) from the March 2009 lows to the IASB/FASB changes to factual to fantasy accounting. The Telegraph reports today that from PIRC’s and the Bank of England’s Financial Policy Committee that while banker bonuses continue to rise (for now), ‘hidden’ losses among UK banks could total GBP60 Billion (USD 90 Billion). HSBC topped the list with GBP10.4 Billion in bad debts that have yet to be written off and while the ‘accounting’ bodies are suggesting they will address criticism of this farce, as one analyst notes, they “can still make unprofitable lending appear profitable.” Regulators expect to hear plans from lenders on how they intend to fill these holes before the end of the month to coincide either with the FPC’s meeting on March 19 or a statement scheduled for March 27. While outright recaps are unlikely, banks are expected to
restructure and set out plans to raise their capital levels over the next
couple of years. More fantasy…

Via The Telegraph,

PIRC has calculated the amount of bad debts the banks may have to write off in coming years but have yet to subtract from profits, together with other items such as deferred bonuses not booked.

HSBC, which is the biggest bank by assets, was shown to have £10.4bn of hidden losses, the Royal Bank of Scotland has £9.4bn, and Barclays has £7.3bn. Lloyds Banking Group has £2.5bn and Standard Chartered £2.2bn. Together the undeclared losses total £31.8bn.

Read moreMark-To-Market Manipulation Hides $90 BILLION Losses For UK Banks

Farewell Eng£AAAnd: Moody’s Downgrades UK’s Credit Rating From AAA To Aa1

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– Farewell AAA: Moody’s Downgrades The UK From AAA To Aa1 (ZeroHedge, Feb 22, 2013):

Just the headline for now:

  • MOODY’S DOWNGRADES UK’S GOVERNMENT BOND RATING TO Aa1 FROM AAA

Someone must have clued Moody’s on the fact that the UK is about to have its very own Goldman banker, which means consolidated debt/GDP will soon need four digits. In other news, every lawyer in the UK is now celebrating because come Monday Moody’s will be sued to smithereens.

Cable not happy as it tests 31 month lows…

Full report below:

Read moreFarewell Eng£AAAnd: Moody’s Downgrades UK’s Credit Rating From AAA To Aa1

The Reflation Party Is Ending As China Withdraws Market Liquidity For First Time In Eight Months

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– The Reflation Party Is Ending As China Withdraws Market Liquidity For First Time In Eight Months (ZeroHedge, Feb 19, 2013):

Since institutional memories are short, it is time to remind readers that it was the threat, and subsequent reality, of China overheating in the spring and summer of 2011 (when record high food prices sent the entire North African region in a state of coordinated revolt and gradually moved far east), when even the Great firewall of China could not block news of frequent break outs of localized violence from hungry and angry mobs, that halted and broke the spine of the great reflation trade then (and yes, 2013 has so far been a carbon copy replica of 2011 as we summarized in “It’s Deja Vu, All Over Again: This Time Is… Completely The Same“).

Furthermore, as only Zero Hedge forecast back in mid-2012, when ever other commentator was shouting over the rooftops that an RRR or interest rate cut out of Beijing was imminent, the PBOC would be the last to stimulate the market with monetary easing as it was well-aware that an entire developed world reflating at the same time would hit none other than China the fastest as the hot money flew straight into Shanghai. Just as it did in 2011. So instead China proceeded to engage in a series of daily reverse repos, or ultra-short term liquidity injections that prevented the advent of wholesale inflation: after all the Fed, the BOJ, the ECB and soon, the BOE, were doing it for them. And the last thing the country with the highest allotment of CPI, or book inflation, to food and energy can afford, is to let foreign central banks dictate its price level. After all, it has more than enough of its own.

Well, the Chinese New Year celebration is now over, the Year of the Snake is here, and those following the Shanghai Composite have lots to hiss about, as two out of two trading days have printed in the red. But a far bigger concern to not only those long the SHCOMP, but the “Great Reflation Trade – ver. 2013″, is that just as two years ago, China appears set to pull out first, as once again inflation rears its ugly head. And where the PBOC goes, everyone else grudgingly has to follow: after all without China there is no marginal growth driver to the world economy.

End result: China’s reverse repos, or liquidity providing operations, have ended after month of daily injections, and the first outright repo, or liquidity draining operation, just took place after eight months of dormancy.

From the WSJ:

Chinese authorities took a step to ease potential inflationary pressures Tuesday by using a key mechanism for the first time in eight months.

The move by the central bank to withdraw cash from the banking system is a reversal after months of pumping cash in. That cash flood was meant to reduce borrowing costs for businesses as the economy slowed last year—but recent data has shown growth picking up, along with the main determinants of inflation: housing and food prices.

Read moreThe Reflation Party Is Ending As China Withdraws Market Liquidity For First Time In Eight Months

UBS: The British Pound Is At Risk Of ‘Large-Scale Devaluation’

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– Forex Flash: The British pound is the next big devaluation story – UBS (Nasdaq, Feb 17, 2013):

Sterling is likely to be the next major currency that depreciates strongly, says Mansoor Mohi-uddin, Head of Foreign Exchange Strategy at UBS Macro Research.

“As central banks tolerate higher levels of inflation, the pound is set to weaken further across the board particularly against our favourite G4 currency, the US dollar” Mr. Mohi-uddin adds.

He concludes: “The GBP seems clearly at risk of following the yen and suffering the next large scale devaluation. As a result, we issued a recommendation that clients buy a six-month sterling put/US dollar call option with a strike of 1.4800.”

Currency War ? Trade War ? Hot War

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– Currency Wars Often Lead to Trade Wars … Which In Turn Can Devolve Into Hot Wars (ZeroHedge, Feb 8, 2013):

Currency War ? Trade War ? Hot War?

According to numerous high-level insiders, the global currency war is accelerating:

Read moreCurrency War ? Trade War ? Hot War

Please Welcome The UK To The Global Currency Wars

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– Please Welcome UK To The Global Currency Wars (ZeroHedge, Jan 23, 2013):

When it was announced in late November that Goldman’s Mark Carney would become head of the BOE (a “shocking” move only Zero Hedge predicted), we said that one has to be insane to be buying the GBP at those levels. Sure enough, it took just two short months before the implications of yet another Goldmanite’s pro-inflationary policies would become apparent. To wit:

  • KING SAYS BOE IS READY TO PROVIDE MORE STIMULUS IF NEEDED
  • KING SAYS QE WAS CRUCIAL IN AVOIDING U.K. DEPRESSION
  • KING SAYS U.K. BANKS SOME WAY FROM CONVINCING MARKETS ON SAFETY
  • KING SAYS POUND DROP WAS NEEDED FOR U.K. REBALANCING
  • KING: U.K. 4Q GDP ALMOST CERTAINLY CONSIDERABLY WEAKER THAN 3Q

And the punchline:

  • KING SAYS REBALANCING NEEDED TO AVOID CURRENCY WARS

In other words, please welcome the UK to the global currency wars.

Read morePlease Welcome The UK To The Global Currency Wars

Mainstream Media Finally Awakens To The Fact That Big Banks Are Criminal Enterprises

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– Mainstream Media Finally Awakens to the Fact that Big Banks Are Criminal Enterprises (ZeroHedge, Dec 16, 2012)

Keiser Report: High Frequency Scalping (Video)

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FYI.


YouTube Added: 15.12.2012

Description:

In this episode, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert look at central banking meth heads and low level broker-dealer-thieves drinking the hand sanitizer that is the high frequency scalping of the last dregs of equity left in the markets. They also ask whether the US has it in for British banks. In the second half, Max Keiser talks to Peter Antonioni, author of the Economics for Dummies, about the policy of quantitative easing as economic homeopathy – it only works on the grounds that you believe it works and about the UK monetizing its debt after transferring QE ‘surpluses’ from the Bank of England to the Treasury.

The Federal Reserve Cartel: Part III: The Roundtable & the Illuminati

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FYI.

– The Federal Reserve Cartel: Part III: The Roundtable & the Illuminati (Veterans Today, Dec 10, 2012):

According to former British intelligence agent John Coleman’s book, The Committee of 300, the Rothschilds exert political control through the secretive Business Roundtable, which they created in 1909 with the help of Lord Alfred Milner and South African industrialist Cecil Rhodes.  The Rhodes Scholarship is granted by Oxford University, while oil industry propagandist Cambridge Energy Research Associates operates out of the Rhodes-supported Cambridge University.

Rhodes founded De Beers and Standard Chartered Bank.  According to Gary Allen’s expose, The Rockefeller Files, Milner financed the Russian Bolsheviks on Rothschild’s behalf, with help from Jacob Schiff and Max Warburg.

Read moreThe Federal Reserve Cartel: Part III: The Roundtable & the Illuminati

Keiser Report: TINA’s Big Black Hole (Video)

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FT: ‘Wages Have To Be Slashed By 30-40% In the UK’


YouTube Added: 04.12.2012

Description:

In this episode, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert investigate the black hole of debt sucking in our economies, jobs and wealth like strings of spaghetti past the economic event horizon. In the second half, Max Keiser talks to Ned Naylor-Leyland of Cheviot Asset Management about the fishy smoke signals blowing at the LBMA regarding silver contracts and about the debate between inflation, deflation, hyperinflation actually being a debate about the final denouement of paper currencies. Ned also reveals that BBC’s flagship programme, Panorama, had interviewed him and Andrew Maguire about silver manipulation and yet have never aired the episode.

Mark Carnage: A Look At The Mess Mark Carney Is Leaving Behind In Canada

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– Mark Carnage (ZeroHedge, Dec 1, 2012):

The greater story behind Mark Carney’s appointment to the Bank of England may be the completion of Goldman Sachs’ multi-tentacled takeover of the European regulatory and central banking system.

But let’s take a moment to look at the mess he is leaving behind in Canada, the home of moose, maple syrup, Jean Poutine and now colossal housing bubbles. George Osborne (who as I noted last month wants more big banks in Britain) might have recruited Carney on the basis of his “success” in Canada. But in reality he is just another Greenspan — a bubble-maker and reinflationist happy to pump the banking sector full of loose money and call it “prosperity” before the irrational exuberance runs dry, and the bubble inevitably bursts.

…

Goldman’s Global Domination Is Now Complete As Its Mark Carney Takes Over Bank Of England

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See also:

– The BBC Profiles Mark Carney, Uses Word “Goldman” Once (ZeroHedge, Nov 26, 2012):

It is truly amazing to what lengths the mainstream media will go to avoid talking about what really got Goldman’s former head of the Canadian Central Bank the role of Goldman’s current head of the Bank of England. But it could be worse: a word search for Goldman in the BBC’s just released profile of Mark Carney shows one instance of said word, and as a parenthetical at that. Hey, it could have been zero…

From the BBC

– Goldman’s Global Domination Is Now Complete As Its Mark Carney Takes Over Bank Of England (ZeroHedge, Nov 26 , 2012):

Back on July 3, we made an explicit and very simple prediction: “now that the natural succession path at the BOE has been terminally derailed, it brings up those two other gentlemen already brought up previously as potential future heads of the BOE, both of whom just happened to work, or still do, at… Goldman Sachs:  Canada’s Mark Carney or Goldman’s Jim O’Neil. Granted both have denied press speculation they will replace Mervyn King, but it’s not like it would be the first time a banker lied to anyone now, would it (and makes one wonder if this whole affair was not merely orchestrated by the Squid from the get go… but no, that would be a ‘conspiracy theory’.)”A few weeks later, in “On The Path To Global Goldmanation: Former Goldmanite Mark Carney To Head The BOE After All?” we added:

Read moreGoldman’s Global Domination Is Now Complete As Its Mark Carney Takes Over Bank Of England

Bank Of England To The Fed: ‘No Indication Should, Of Course, Be Given To The Bundesbank …’

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– Exclusive: Bank Of England To The Fed: “No Indication Should, Of Course, Be Given To The Bundesbank…” (ZeroHedge, Nov 9, 2012):

Over the past several years, the German people, for a variety of credible reasons, have expressed a pressing desire to have their central bank perform a test, verification, validation or any other assay, of the official German gold inventory, which at 3,395 tonnes is the second highest in the world, second only to the US. We have italicized the word official because this representation is merely on paper: the problem arises because no member of the general population, or even elected individuals, have been given access to observe this gold. The problem is exacerbated when one considers that a majority of the German gold is held offshore, primarily in the vaults of the New York Fed, and at the Bank of England – the two historic centers of central banking activity in the post World War 2 world.

Recently, the topic of German gold resurfaced following the disclosure that early on in the Eurozone creation process, the Bundesbank secretly withdrew two-thirds of its gold, or 940 tons, from London in 2000, leaving just 500 tons with the Bank of England. As we made it very clear, what was most odd about this event, is that the Bundesbank did something it had every right to do fully in the open: i.e., repatriate what belongs to it for any number of its own reasons – after all the German central bank is only accountable to its people (or so the myth goes), in deep secrecy. The question was why it opted for this stealthy transfer.

Read moreBank Of England To The Fed: ‘No Indication Should, Of Course, Be Given To The Bundesbank …’

Germany: Bundesbank’s Official Statment On Where It’s Gold Is (And Isn’t)

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– Bundesbank’s Official Statment On Where It’s Gold Is (And Isn’t) (ZeroHedge, Oct 27, 2012):

Three days ago, as a result of recent discoveries relating to Germany’s official sovereign gold inventory, we asked a rhetorical question: “Why Did The Bundesbank Secretly Withdraw Two-Thirds Of Its London Gold?” There we presented the chonology of official disclosure regarding the whereabouts of German gold over the past decade, with an emphasis on its reclamation from London-based official vaults to the safety of the motherland, and left off with another open-ended statement that: “what is left unsaid in all of the above is that Germany has done nothing wrong! It simply demanded a reclamation of what is rightfully Germany’s to demand.” Nonetheless, the fact that Germany did this has opened a Pandora’s box of unanswered questions, and even demands that Germany promptly demand delivery all of its gold – the second largest such hoard in the world only after the US – held abroad. Below is the official response by the Bundesbank.

Here is the gist::

We do not have the slightest doubt that our holdings in New York and Paris are also made up of the purest fine gold. We have at our disposal fully documented lists of the bars, and our partner central banks send us every year confirmation not only of the bars’ existence but also of their quality.

We had nothing but the best of experiences with our partners in New York, London and Paris. There was never any doubt about the security of Germany’s gold. In future, we wish to continue to keep gold at international gold trading centres so that, when push comes to shove, we can have it available as a reserve asset as soon as possible. Gold stored in your home safe is not immediately available as collateral in case you need foreign currency.

How about if you need collateral in your own currency, such as the de facto reserve currency of Europe, the DEM? Crickets?

The punchline:

Take, for instance, the key role that the US dollar plays as a reserve currency in the global financial system. The gold held with the New York Fed can, in a crisis, be pledged with the Federal Reserve Bank as collateral against US dollar-denominated liquidity. Similar pound sterling liquidity could be obtained by pledging the gold that is held with the Bank of England.

And what otherwise would pass as Saturday Humor:

Read moreGermany: Bundesbank’s Official Statment On Where It’s Gold Is (And Isn’t)

David Einhorn Explains How The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America (Video)

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‘The Bernank’ is just a meaningless puppet.

– David Einhorn Explains How Ben Bernanke Is Destroying America (ZeroHedge, Oct 26, 2012):

David Einhorn knocks it out of the park with his very first statement during today’s Buttonwood Gathering, in a segment dedicated to one thing only: explaining how the Fed’s policies are not only not helping the economy, they are now actively destroying this country.

“Sometimes you have to look at what is the base assumption. because sometimes you have a groupthink around the base assumption and everybody agrees to the same thing and acts reflexively and doesn’t really challenge what is going on. I think we have reached that point with the monetary policy. The assumption is that if you want the economy to improve, if you want more jobs, if you want more consumption, what we need is ever-easing monetary policy. My point is that if one jelly donut is a fine thing to have, 35 jelly donuts is not a fine thing to have, and it gets to a point where it’s not a question of diminishing returns but it actually turns out to be a drag. I think we have passed the point where incremental easing of Federal policy actually acts as a headwind to the economy and is actually slowing down our recovery, and I am alarmed by the reflexive groupthink of the leaders which is if we want a stronger economy, we need lower rates, we need more QE and other such measures.”

And that, in a nutshell is it: everything else follows.

Read moreDavid Einhorn Explains How The Federal Reserve Is Destroying America (Video)

Where Are Germany’s Gold Reserves And What Is Their Actual Book Value

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– What Is The Actual Book Value Of Germany’s Gold Reserves (ZeroHedge, Oct 23, 2012):

Today’s AM fix was USD 1,717.00, EUR 1,317.22, and GBP 1,072.12 per ounce.
Yesterday’s AM fix was USD 1,725.00, EUR 1,321.03, and GBP 1,075.10 per ounce.

Read moreWhere Are Germany’s Gold Reserves And What Is Their Actual Book Value

PIMCO’s Bill Gross Warns ‘Very Likely’ Central Banks Will Cause 1987-Like Crash

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– Bill Gross Warns “Very Likely’ Central Banks Will Cause 1987-Like Crash (ZeroHedge, Oct 19, 2012):

What takes other Political Journalism majors (and CTRL-C/V minors) pages and pages of verbose essays full of acronyms and meaningless gibberish to refute, Bill Gross asserts in less than 140 characters.

Read morePIMCO’s Bill Gross Warns ‘Very Likely’ Central Banks Will Cause 1987-Like Crash

China Central Bank Refuses To Join Global Print Fest, Warns About Inflation Risks

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– China Central Bank Refuses To Join Global Print Fest, Warns About Inflation Risks (ZeroHedge, Oct 12, 2012):

While the entire ‘developed’ world is now openly engaged in destroying the balance sheet of its assorted central banks – the sole means to devalue local currencies, a liability, by accepting ever more toxic ‘assets’ as currency collateral – thereby pursuing strategies which until now were strictly relegated to the banana republic playbook, there are some countries who see what is coming over the horizon, and refuse to join the printing frenzy. One such place is China, for whom, as we have repeatedly shown the threat of a fast onset of inflation is far greater (3x more bank deposits as a % of GDP than in the US, means a soaring capital market as a result of inflation will benefit far less while a deposit exodus will cause hyperinflationary havoc in minutes) than any other developed world country. And with the inability to hide “non-core” CPI as a result of food and energy being such a greater portion of overall inflationary bean counting than in the US, it means that despite the demands of Tim Geithner for immediate more easing by China, the PBOC is now stuck waiting to import everyone else’s inflation: this includes the Fed, ECB, BOE, BOJ, Korea, Australia and all other bank engaged in adding liquidity, while its own hands are quite tied. Because recall that it was only last year that the NYT said that: “Inflation in China Poses Big Threat to Global Trade.” Now we are told that lack of inflation poses the same threat, when in reality what they mean is that with the world tapped out, one more source of marginal liquidity is needed. Judging by overnight comments from the PBOC’s head Zhou Xiaochuan that liquidity, suddenly so very needed to keep the game of musical chairs going, is not going to come from China just as we have warned for months on end.

From Reuters:

China’s central bank governor has warned that quantitative easing policies worldwide could cause inflationary risks, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday.

Read moreChina Central Bank Refuses To Join Global Print Fest, Warns About Inflation Risks

‘What’s Next?’: Explaining The Doomsday Cycle

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– “What’s Next?”: Simon Johnson Explains The Doomsday Cycle (ZeroHedge, Sep 22, 2012):

There is a common problem underlying the economic troubles of Europe, Japan, and the US: the symbiotic relationship between politicians who heed narrow interests and the growth of a financial sector that has become increasingly opaque (Igan and Mishra 2011). Bailouts have encouraged reckless behaviour in the financial sector, which builds up further risks – and will lead to another round of shocks, collapses, and bailouts.This is what we have called the ‘doomsday cycle’ (Boone and Johnson 2010). The cycle turned in 2007-8 and was most dramatically manifest in the weeks and months that followed the fall of Lehman Brothers, the collapse of Iceland’s banks and the botched ‘rescue’ of the big three Irish financial institutions.

The consequences have included sovereign debt restructuring by Greece, as well as continuing problems – and lending programmes by the IMF and the EU – for Greece, Ireland, and Portugal. Italy, Spain and other parts of the Eurozone remain under intense pressure.

Read more‘What’s Next?’: Explaining The Doomsday Cycle

The ‘Euphoric’ Economy And Why ‘They’ Didn’t See It Coming

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– The ‘Euphoric’ Economy And Why ‘They’ Didn’t See It Coming (ZeroHedge, Aug 28, 2012):

We are often asked for glossaries or background posts to help in the comprehension of how-we-got-here?, where-here-is?, and where-we-are-going? We hope that our posts, while diverse in nature, build upon one another and provide an educational platform for all levels of market/economy participant (active traders, passive investors, and working / non-working citizens alike) but as far as a succinct primer on how broken the status quo is and the ‘euphoric’ economy that very few could see through their Keynesian “debt doesn’t matter” blinders, Steve Keen’s introductory lecture at UWS is perhaps the most complete soup-to-nuts discussion we have seen recently. From the OECD’s total ignorance to Bernanke’s ‘Great Moderation’ miss; from economic ‘religion’ to science; and from Keynes to Minksy, Keen explains, in language even Chuck Schumer could understand, how more debt doesn’t solve too much debt, how stability breeds instability, and why the US won’t be finished deleveraging until 2025 (at this rate).

This brief lecture seems extremely apropos given we appear to be on the eve of yet another embarkation on the Keynesian ‘stimulate’ experiment – as everyone waits with baited breath for the next morsel of Fed/ECB/BoE/BoJ/PBOC juice…


YouTube

Given the Australian audience, and the purpose of the clip, there is some ‘selling’ of his University course but quite frankly, his discussion of the various ‘players’ in the field of economics over time provides not just a ‘reading’ program but critically the concept that economics is not in equilibrium but is dynamic – as if common sense hadn’t already persuaded you of this…