Derivatives

Kunstler: “Nothing Can Faze This Mad Bull, Apparently…”

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– Kunstler: “Nothing Can Faze This Mad Bull, Apparently…”:

Welcome to the witching month when America’s entropy-fueled death-wish expresses itself with as much Halloween jollity and merriment as the old Christmas spirit of yore.

The outdoor displays alone take on a Babylonian scale, thanks to the plastic factories of China. I saw a half-life-size T-Rex skeleton for sale at a garden shop last week surrounded by an entire crew of moldering corpse Pirates of the Caribbean in full costume ho-ho-ho-ing among the jack-o-lanterns. What homeowner in this sore-beset floundering economy of three-job gig-workers can shell out four thousand bucks to decorate his lawn like the set of a zombie movie?

The overnight news sure took on that Halloween tang as the nation woke up to what is probably a national record for a civilian mad-shooter incident. So far, fifty dead and two hundred wounded in Las Vegas at the Route 91 Harvest Festival (one up in fatalities from last year’s Florida Pulse nightclub massacre, and way more injured this time).

Read moreKunstler: “Nothing Can Faze This Mad Bull, Apparently…”

Bank of America Stumbles On A $51 Trillion Problem

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– Bank of America Stumbles On A $51 Trillion Problem:

“More than $51trillion at risk if rates vol spikes and yields move higher… we have seen the global fixed income market growing to the largest size it has ever been.”…

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Financial Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Top 25 US Banks Have 222 TRILLION DOLLARS Derivatives Exposure

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– Financial Weapons Of Mass Destruction: Top 25 US Banks Have 222 Trillion Dollars Derivatives Exposure:

The recklessness of the “too big to fail” banks almost doomed them the last time around, but apparently they still haven’t learned from their past mistakes.

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Infinite Unknown (infiniteunknown.net) Now Officially Censored By Google

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(Screenshot – Click on image to enlarge.)

google-censorship-infiniteunknown-net

Here is the censored article:

– Accusations Of Treason In The Greek Parliament Against Bilderberg PM Papandreou

In my commentary to the above article I wrote:

Flashback:

– Greek Central Bank Accused of Encouraging Naked Short Selling of Greek Bonds (Financial Times)

And remember that the biggest Greek CDS speculator has been the state-controlled Hellenic Post Bank with help from (Yes, you’ve guessed it!) Goldman Sachs:

– State-controlled Hellenic Post Bank (TT) bet against Greece (Kathimerini)

– Fragwürdige Finanzgeschäfte Griechen wetten auf eigene Pleite (Sueddeutsche Zeitung)

The state-controlled Hellenic Post Bank was betting on Greece going bankrupt!

What will happen if Greece defaults:

– Here Is What Happens After Greece Defaults

Solution:

– Former Assistant Secretary of the US Treasury Dr. Paul Craig Roberts: Revolution is the Only Answer (For Greece, Ireland etc.)

So who could possibly ‘dislike’ such an article?

On a side note:

Alexa Rank:

Infinite Unknown had a global Alexa Rank of  just above 100,000 (for a while) and even below that (quite a while ago).

A webmaster told me (when it became apparent that the numbers were dropping fast) that Alexa had changed its rating methods, which in his opinion clearly disfavors websites like I.U.

You can look up I.U.’s global ranking here:

http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/infiniteunknown.net

The only way we can make up for all this censorship coming our way is if readers would start hitting that social media buttons like crazy.

Maybe that would also bring more attention to the website, which could possibly result in more financial support for my work, which is much, much needed.

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Could Germany Ever Allow Deutsche Bank To Go Under?

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Deutsche is to big to safe, thanks to former CEO, Bilderberg & Rothschild puppet Josef Ackermann.

Josef Ackermannjosef-ackermann

– Could Germany Ever Allow Deutsche Bank To Go Under?:

Via Golem XIV blog,

Deutsche Bank, one of Europe’s behemoths, is in very deep trouble having lost 90% 0f its share price value since 2007, has been falling sharply all this last year (48% loss this year) and, with its $42 Trillion in Derivatives exposure was singled out by the IMF, as the bank which ,

“appears to be the most important net contributor to systemic risks…”

Of course Deutsche agues the standard ‘derivatives-aren’t-a-problem’ line, that this 42 trillion all nets out and their real exposure is a fraction of that vast figure. Which is fine as long as you think that in the event of Deutsche coming unstuck, 42 trillions-worth of derivatives contracts can be held in abeyance for the time it would take for all those contracts to be netted out.  As I’ve said before netting out is akin to getting a rowing boat full of people to all change places  without the boat overturning.

Read moreCould Germany Ever Allow Deutsche Bank To Go Under?

Warren Buffett Exits Entire Credit Default Swap Exposure, As Citi’s Appetite For Derivative Destruction Surges

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Continue to prepare for collapse. (And maybe support this website if you can.)

– Buffett Exits Entire Credit Default Swap Exposure, As Citi’s Appetite For Derivative Destruction Surges:

It was considered one of the bigger paradoxes for years. Back in 2003, Warren Buffett famously dubbed derivatives “financial weapons of mass destruction” and yet over the next several years went ahead and entered a number of the contracts, including both equities and credit, ostensibly by selling CDS to collect up monthly premiums. However, at least when it comes to CDS, after several years of Berkshire trimming its credit derivative exposure, it is now completely out. Meanwhile, Citi is loading up on any CDS it can find…

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Citigroup Has More Derivatives than 4,701 U.S. Banks Combined; After Blowing Itself Up With Derivatives in 2008

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Derivatives-at-Bank-Holding-Companies-March-31-2016-OCC-Report

– Citigroup Has More Derivatives than 4,701 U.S. Banks Combined; After Blowing Itself Up With Derivatives in 2008:

According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), as of March 31, 2016, there were 6,122 FDIC insured financial institutions in the United States. Of those 6,122 commercial banks and savings associations, 4,701 did not hold any derivatives. To put that another way, 77 percent of all U.S. banks found zero reason to engage in high-risk derivative trading.

Citigroup, however, the bank that spectacularly blew itself up with toxic derivatives and subprime debt in 2008, became a 99-cent stock during the crisis, and received the largest taxpayer bailout in U.S. financial history despite being insolvent at the time, today holds more derivatives than 4,701 other banks combined which are backstopped by the taxpayer.

Read moreCitigroup Has More Derivatives than 4,701 U.S. Banks Combined; After Blowing Itself Up With Derivatives in 2008

Deutsche Bank Derivative Implosion have been confirmed by the pending sale of $1.1 TRILLION in derivatives to 3 US big banks (Videos)

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– Deutsche Bank Derivative Implosion have been confirmed by the pending sale of $1.1 TRILLION in derivatives to 3 US big banks:

JPMorgan, Goldman Said to Discuss Buying Deutsche Bank Swaps

~Lender looking to complete sale of $1.1 trillion swaps book

~Deutsche Bank has sold about two-thirds of book since 2015

Deutsche Bank AG, the lender exiting some trading operations, is in talks with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Citigroup Inc. to sell the last batches of about 1 trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) in complex financial instruments, people with knowledge of the matter said.

Read moreDeutsche Bank Derivative Implosion have been confirmed by the pending sale of $1.1 TRILLION in derivatives to 3 US big banks (Videos)

Is It Time To Panic About Deutsche Bank?

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Ever since this Rothschild puppet and Bilderberg bastard left Deutsche I’ve put it on my watchlist:

Bilderberg Josef AckermannJosef Ackermann

– Is It Time To Panic About Deutsche Bank?:

Back in April 2013, we showed for the first time something few were aware of, namely that “At $72.8 Trillion, The Bank With The Biggest Derivative Exposure In The World” was not JPMorgan as some had expected, but Germany’s banking behemoth, Deutsche bank.

Some brushed it off, saying one should never look at gross derivative exposure but merely net, to which we had one simple response: net immediately becomes gross when just one counterparty in the collateral chains fails – case in point, the Lehman and AIG failures and the resulting scramble to bailout the entire world which cost trillions in taxpayer funds.

We then followed it up one year later with “The Elephant In The Room: Deutsche Bank’s $75 Trillion In Derivatives Is 20 Times Greater Than German GDP.”

Then, last June, we asked the most pointed question yet: “Is Deutsche Bank The Next Lehman?” only this time it wasn’t just the bank’s gargantuan balance sheet risk shown below that was dominant…

Deutsche Bank Germany Eurozone GDP

…. but the fact that it impaired assets had finally started to trickle down through to the income statement, leading to loss after loss, management exit after exit, market rigging settlement after market rigging settlement, and all culminating ten days ago with the bank’s “titanic”, and record, €7 billion loss, surpassing the bank’s troubles even during the depths of the Global Financial Crisis.

Read moreIs It Time To Panic About Deutsche Bank?

Financial Armageddon Approaches: U.S. Banks Have 247 Trillion Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives

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Nuclear-War

– Financial Armageddon Approaches: U.S. Banks Have 247 Trillion Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives:

Did you know that there are 5 “too big to fail” banks in the United States that each have exposure to derivatives contracts that is in excess of 30 trillion dollars?  Overall, the biggest U.S. banks collectively have more than 247 trillion dollars of exposure to derivatives contracts.  That is an amount of money that is more than 13 times the size of the U.S. national debt, and it is a ticking time bomb that could set off financial Armageddon at any moment.  Globally, the notional value of all outstanding derivatives contracts is a staggering 552.9 trillion dollars according to the Bank for International Settlements.  The bankers assure us that these financial instruments are far less risky than they sound, and that they have spread the risk around enough so that there is no way they could bring the entire system down.  But that is the thing about risk – you can try to spread it around as many ways as you can, but you can never eliminate it.  And when this derivatives bubble finally implodes, there won’t be enough money on the entire planet to fix it.

Read moreFinancial Armageddon Approaches: U.S. Banks Have 247 Trillion Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives

$1.5 QUADRILLION Time Bomb

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Flashback:

– Coming Derivatives Crisis Designed To Destroy The Entire Global Financial System: $600 TRILLION To $1.5 QUADRILLION Worldwide Derivatives Market – World GDP At Around $65 Trillion

Blythe-Masters-Jamie-Dimon

– JPMorgan Employee Who Invented Credit Default Swaps is One of the Key Architects of Carbon Derivatives, Which Would Be at the Very CENTER of Cap and Trade

time-bomb
The total notional derivatives value is about $1.5 quadrillion – about 20% more than in 2008. (Image credit: icmu.nyc.gr)

– $1.5 Quadrillion Time Bomb (The Real Agenda News, July 26, 2015):

When investing becomes gambling, bad endings follow. The next credit crunch could make 2008-09 look mild by comparison. Bank of International Settlements(BIS) data show around $700 trillion in global derivatives.

Along with credit default swaps and other exotic instruments, the total notional derivatives value is about $1.5 quadrillion – about 20% more than in 2008, beyond what anyone can conceive, let alone control if unexpected turmoil strikes.

The late Bob Chapman predicted it. So does Paul Craig Roberts. It could “destroy Western civilization,” he believes. Financial deregulation turned Wall Street into a casino with no rules except unrestrained making money. Catastrophic failure awaits. It’s just a matter of time.

Read more$1.5 QUADRILLION Time Bomb

Is Deutsche Bank The Next Lehman?

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See also:

– The Elephant In The Room: Deutsche Bank’s $75 TRILLION In Derivatives Is 20 Times Greater Than German GDP

– Is Deutsche Bank The Next Lehman? ( NotQuant, June 11, 2015):

Looking back at the Lehman Brothers collapse of 2008, it’s amazing how quickly it all happened.  In hindsight there were a few early-warning signs,  but the true scale of the disaster publicly unfolded only in the final moments before it became apparent that Lehman was doomed.

Lehman

First, for purposes of drawing a parallel, let’s re-cap the events of 2007-2008:

Read moreIs Deutsche Bank The Next Lehman?

The Six Too Big To Fail Banks In The U.S. Have 278 TRILLION Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives

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What could possibly go wrong?

Bankers

– The Six Too Big To Fail Banks In The U.S. Have 278 TRILLION Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives (Economic Collapse, April 13, 2015):

The very same people that caused the last economic crisis have created a 278 TRILLION dollar derivatives time bomb that could go off at any moment.  When this absolutely colossal bubble does implode, we are going to be faced with the worst economic crash in the history of the United States.  During the last financial crisis, our politicians promised us that they would make sure that “too big to fail” would never be a problem again.  Instead, as you will see below, those banks have actually gotten far larger since then.  So now we really can’t afford for them to fail.  The six banks that I am talking about are JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.  When you add up all of their exposure to derivatives, it comes to a grand total of more than 278 trillion dollars.  But when you add up all of the assets of all six banks combined, it only comes to a grand total of about 9.8 trillion dollars.  In other words, these “too big to fail” banks have exposure to derivatives that is more than 28 times greater than their total assets.  This is complete and utter insanity, and yet nobody seems too alarmed about it.  For the moment, those banks are still making lots of money and funding the campaigns of our most prominent politicians.  Right now there is no incentive for them to stop their incredibly reckless gambling so they are just going to keep on doing it.

Read moreThe Six Too Big To Fail Banks In The U.S. Have 278 TRILLION Dollars Of Exposure To Derivatives

European Derivatives Market Breaks … And Futures Surge

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– European Derivatives Market Breaks… And Futures Surge (ZeroHedge, April 8, 2015):

Because nothing says “liquid and efficient” market like yet another broken market. Just as we saw yesterday afternoon as US equities collapsed into the close, Euronext has broken in the pre-open European markets…

  • *EURONEXT SAYS EXPERIENCING SOME TECHNICAL ISSUES
  • *EURONEXT DERIVATIVES MKT STATUS – SYSTEMS AFFECTED: CCG ISSUE
  • *EURONEXT: CCG NUMBER 10, 11, 12 MAY SEE CONNECTIVITY ISSUE

20150408_EU1

and sure enough, DAX stock futures surge…

Read moreEuropean Derivatives Market Breaks … And Futures Surge

Keiser Report: Sovietization Of Capitalism (Video)

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24.02.2015

Description:

In this Keiser Report, Max Keiser and Stacy Herbert discuss removing the document to remove the men who rule our bureaucratic world – from their mountains of derivatives paperwork, which has added nothing to global GDP to the piles of QE, which has added merely more paper gains to an over-bloated stock market.

In the second half, Max interviews David Graeber about his new book, The Utopia of Rules: On Technology, Stupidity and the Secret Joys of Bureaucracy. They talk about the Sovietization of capitalism as more and more paperwork and more and more contracts are required for the simplest of every day financial exchanges. Max introduces the concept of a Fee-ocracy which believes in the ideology of fee-ism, whereby spinning enough contracts and debt makes us all rich as epitomized by the practice of Quantitative Easing which is printing paperwork.

2015 Will Be All About Iran, China and Russia

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2015 Will Be All About Iran, China and Russia

– 2015 Will Be All About Iran, China and Russia (Sputnik International, Dec 31, 2014):

By Pepe Escobar

Fasten your seatbelts; 2015 will be a whirlwind pitting China, Russia and Iran against what I have described as the Empire of Chaos.

So yes – it will be all about further moves towards the integration of Eurasia as the US is progressively squeezed out of Eurasia. We will see a complex geostrategic interplay progressively undermining the hegemony of the US dollar as a reserve currency and, most of all, the petrodollar.

Read more2015 Will Be All About Iran, China and Russia

The Destruction Of The Middle Class Is Nearing The Final Stages

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From the article:

“There are three lessons that many people will learn in the coming months. If you do not have it already you may not be able to get it. If you do not have it physically in your hands you do not own it. If you cannot protect it you will not have it for long.”

R.I.P.-Middle-Class

– The Destruction Of The Middle Class Is Nearing The Final Stages (Project Chesapeake, Dec 17, 2014):

The events of the past few months seem astounding when taken in all at once. The plan to destroy the U.S. dollar and the American middle class is moving at an ever increasing speed.

At the recent G20 meeting the nations agreed that bank deposits would no longer be considered money. These bank deposits become the property of the banking institution and as such can be used any way the bank wants. This means that any money you deposit in a bank now is no longer yours but makes you an investor in the bank and subject to lose that money if a banking crisis takes down the bank.

Read moreThe Destruction Of The Middle Class Is Nearing The Final Stages

Outspooking The Lehman Apocalypse: Could A Russian Default Be In The Cards?

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FYI.

– Outspooking The Lehman Apocalypse: Could A Russian Default Be In The Cards? (ZeroHedge, Dec 16, 2014):

Via Mint – Blain’s Extra Porridge,

“Nazhmite Lyubuyu Stavku…“

Extra Comment – this might be getting serious.

russia-cds

Russia’s markets have been spanked hard despite last night’s hike. 19% currency crash and 13% down stocks in a session. Ouch! Cumulatively, over the past few weeks stocks, oil and the Ruble are off 50% plus, and bonds off 40%. This morning felt like free-fall. Expect more action from the Russians to stave off economic catastrophe… imminent capital controls are rumoured, but markets are demonstrating a massive loss of confidence.

Lots of old market hands are talking about how its similar to the Russia default and crash of ‘98 all over again.. Actually.. its worse.

Much worse.

Read moreOutspooking The Lehman Apocalypse: Could A Russian Default Be In The Cards?

Presenting The $303 TRILLION In Derivatives That US Taxpayers Are Now On The Hook For

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What could possibly go wrong?

From the article:

“The only question is when the next multi-trillion (or perhaps quadrillion now that all global central banks are all in?) bailout takes place.”

The elitists will blow up the entire financial system and you better have water, food, gold, silver, guns, a remote farm, friends and a getaway plan.

– Presenting The $303 Trillion In Derivatives That US Taxpayers Are Now On The Hook For (ZeroHedge, Dec 12, 2014):

Courtesy of the Cronybus(sic) last minute passage, government was provided a quid-pro-quo $1.1 trillion spending allowance with Wall Street’s blessing in exchange for assuring banks that taxpayers would be on the hook for yet another bailout, as a result of the swaps push-out provision, after incorporating explicit Citigroup language that allows financial institutions to trade certain financial derivatives from subsidiaries that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, explicitly putting taxpayers on the hook for losses caused by these contracts. Recall:

Five years after the Wall Street coup of 2008, it appears the U.S. House of Representatives is as bought and paid for as ever. We heard about the Citigroup crafted legislation currently being pushed through Congress back in May when Mother Jones reported on it. Fortunately, they included the following image in their article:

Screen-Shot-2014-12-05-at-3.32.12-PM-1024x755

Unsurprisingly, the main backer of the bill is notorious Wall Street lackey Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a former Goldman Sachs employee who has discovered lobbyist payoffs can be just as lucrative as a career in financial services.

We say explicitly, of course, because taxpayers have always been on the hook implicitly for the next Wall Street meltdown.

Why?

Read morePresenting The $303 TRILLION In Derivatives That US Taxpayers Are Now On The Hook For

Wall Street Moves To Put Taxpayers On The Hook For Derivatives Trades

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Wall Street Moves to Put Taxpayers on the Hook for Derivatives Trades1

– Wall Street Moves to Put Taxpayers on the Hook for Derivatives Trades (Liberty Blitzkrieg, Dec 5, 2014):

Wall Street has for some time attempted to put taxpayers on the hook for its derivatives trades. I highlighted this a year ago in the post: Citigroup Written Legislation Moves Through the House of Representatives. Here’s an excerpt:

Five years after the Wall Street coup of 2008, it appears the U.S. House of Representatives is as bought and paid for as ever. We heard about the Citigroup crafted legislation currently being pushed through Congress back in May when Mother Jones reported on it. Fortunately, they included the following image in their article:

Wall Street Moves to Put Taxpayers on the Hook for Derivatives Trades

Unsurprisingly, the main backer of the bill is notorious Wall Street lackey Jim Himes (D-Conn.), a former Goldman Sachs employee who has discovered lobbyist payoffs can be just as lucrative as a career in financial services. The last time Mr. Himes made an appearance on these pages was in March 2013 in my piece: Congress Moves to DEREGULATE Wall Street.

Fortunately, that bill never made it to a vote on the Senate floor, but now Wall Street is trying to sneak it into a bill needed to keep the government running.

You can’t make this stuff up.

From the Huffington Post:

WASHINGTON — Wall Street lobbyists are trying to secure taxpayer backing for many derivatives trades as part of budget talks to avert a government shutdown.

According to multiple Democratic sources, banks are pushing hard to include the controversial provision in funding legislation that would keep the government operating after Dec. 11. Top negotiators in the House are taking the derivatives provision seriously, and may include it in the final bill, the sources said.

The bank perks are not a traditional budget item. They would allow financial institutions to trade certain financial derivatives from subsidiaries that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. — potentially putting taxpayers on the hook for losses caused by the risky contracts. Big Wall Street banks had typically traded derivatives from these FDIC-backed units, but the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law required them to move many of the transactions to other subsidiaries that are not insured by taxpayers.

Read moreWall Street Moves To Put Taxpayers On The Hook For Derivatives Trades

The Real Bubble Isn’t Stocks … And It Will Make 2008 Look Like a Picnic

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– The Real Bubble Isn’t Stocks… and It Will Make 2008 Look Like a Picnic (ZeroHedge, Oct 2, 2014):

The 2008 crisis was just a warm-up.

The 2008 crisis was a banking and equities crisis. In the simplest terms, investment banks, leveraged to the hilt with garbage mortgage derivatives, became insolvent and began to collapse.

This collapse triggered a selling panic throughout the financial system as every financial entity questioned the quality of the assets backstopping its derivatives trades. The derivative market was over $700 trillion at the time. So just about every major global bank had broad exposure to this market.

Read moreThe Real Bubble Isn’t Stocks … And It Will Make 2008 Look Like a Picnic

The $70 Trillion Problem Keeping Jamie Dimon Up At Night

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– The $70 Trillion Problem Keeping Jamie Dimon Up At Night (ZeroHedge, Oct 11, 2014):

Yesterday, in a periodic repeat of what he says every 6 or so months, Jamie Dimon – devoid of other things to worry about – warned once again about the dangers hidden within the shadow banking system (the last time he warned about the exact same thing was in April of this year). The throat cancer patient and JPM CEO was speaking at the Institute of International Finance membership meeting in Washington, D.C., and delivered a mostly upbeat message: in fact when he said that the industry was “very close to resolving too big to fail” we couldn’t help but wonder if JPM would spin off Chase or Bear Stearns first. However, when he was asked what keeps him up at night, he said non-bank lending poses a danger “because no one is paying attention to it.” He said the system is “huge” and “growing.” Dimon is right that the problem is huge and growing: according to the IMF which just two days earlier released an exhaustive report on the topic, shadow banking (which does not include the $600 trillion in notional mostly interest rate swap derivatives) amounts to over $70 trillion globally.

…

Feel Like Betting On Life Expectancy? There’s A Derivative For That

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– Feel Like Betting On Life Expectancy? There’s A Derivative For That (ZeroHedge, Sep 6, 2014):

Think CDS were the scourge of humanity, think again. As Pension360 reports, several Wall Street firms are selling securities backed by longevity risk – the risk that retirees receiving benefits will live longer than expected (and thus incur a higher cost on their retirement plan). As Ted Ballantine notes, ‘no one ever said Wall Street wasn’t creative’; but one wonders just how the banks are mitigating this risk…

Read moreFeel Like Betting On Life Expectancy? There’s A Derivative For That