Greeks fearing collapse of eurozone bailout pulled record sums from bank
Bank of Greece reveals that investors fearful of political instability and economic collapse pulled €12.3bn from local banks as Papandreou referendum threatened debt deal
Helena Smith in Athens
guardian.co.uk, Friday 16 December 2011 16.39 GMT
Article history
A man walks through Athens' main food market. Greece abounds in stories of people lugging suitcases of cash out of the country to banks in Cyprus, London and Switzerland. Photograph: Yiorgos Karahalis/Reuters
An unprecedented exodus of capital from Greece – peaking in a record number of withdrawals from banks in recent months – has exacerbated the liquidity crisis now wracking the recession-hit country.
The latest figures released by the Bank of Greece reveal that in September and October alone investors pulled €12.3bn (£10.3bn) from domestic banks, spurred by fears of political uncertainty and economic collapse.
Overall, outflows have reached a record 25% since September 2009 – when household and corporate deposits stood at a peak of €237.5bn, the data showed.
Theodore Pelagidis, an economics professor at the University of Piraeus, said: "This is part of the death spiral of the recession as a result of austerity measures. People realise that contagion has come to banks and they are very afraid of losing their deposits. On average around €4bn-€5bn in capital flees the banking system every month."
The extraordinary figures back up anecdotal evidence that it is not just the super-rich behind the flight of funds.
Over the past year, as the eurozone debt crisis has intensified in the nation where it largely began, there have been countless cases of ordinary depositors hauling suitcases stuffed with cash to the safer destinations of Cyprus, London and Switzerland.
The weekly Proto Thema publication reckons that some 500,000 Greeks have moved money abroad, with a record 1.2m bank transfers being made over the last 18 months.
An estimated €40bn, amounting to 17% of the country's gross domestic product, is believed to have been withdrawn from the banking system over the past year.
Foreign banks with branches in Athens were facilitating the cash flight, the newspaper claimed, by encouraging Greek depositors to set up bank accounts abroad. The Swiss banking groups UBS and Credit Suisse had made it much easier for investors to open accounts in Geneva and Zurich by simplifying procedures.
"In this way, they are putting the nail in the coffin of liquidity in the Greek financial system," Proto Thema declared.
George Provopoulos, the governor of the Bank of Greece, recently said the exodus of capital had "stabilised" following the appointment of an interim coalition government, headed by the technocratic economist Lucas Papademos.
Tasked with overseeing the latest European Union and the International Monetary Fund-sponsored €130bn bailout for Greece – a rescue package that will include a voluntary write-down on the value of Greek bonds – the new administration appears to have had a calming effect on a populace whose panic levels have risen amid persistent speculation of a Greek default and exit from the euro zone.
Tellingly, most of the outflows occurred in October, when a proposal by Athens' socialist former prime minister, George Papandreou, to hold a referendum over the debt deal shocked Europe and world markets, sparking feverish talk of an inevitable Greek departure from the EU.
"It's not only about capital flight," said one banker, referring to the massive withdrawals. "People have had to tap into their savings as household incomes have declined and they have had to pay bills.
"Instead of moving ahead with privatisations and shutting down useless public utilities, the [previous] government chose to exit the crisis by imposing Taliban tax rates and horizontal wage cuts, which has resulted in liquidity being limited and the Greek economy not operating as it should
Unrelenting Global Economic Crisis: A Doomsday View of 2012
The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative
by Prof. James Petras
Global Research, December 25, 2011
Email this article to a friend
Print this article
0digg 383Share
Introduction
The economic, political and social outlook for 2012 is profoundly negative. The almost universal consensus, even among mainstream orthodox economists is pessimistic regarding the world economy. Although, even here, their predictions understate the scope and depth of the crises, there are powerful reasons to believe that beginning in 2012, we are heading toward a steeper decline than what was experienced during the Great Recession of 2008 – 2009. With fewer resources, greater debt and increasing popular resistance to shouldering the burden of saving the capitalist system, the governments cannot bail out the system.
Many of the major institutions and economic relations which were cause and consequence of world and regional capitalist expansion over the past three decades are in the process of disintegration and disarray. The previous economic engines of global expansion, the US and the European Union, have exhausted their potentialities and are in open decline. The new centers of growth, China, India, Brazil, Russia, which for a ‘short decade’ provided a new impetus for world growth have run their course and are de-accelerating rapidly and will continue to do so throughout the new year.
The Collapse of the European Union
Specifically, the crises wracked European Union will break up and the de facto multi-tiered structure will turn into a series of bilateral/multi-lateral trade and investment agreements. Germany , France , the Low and Nordic countries will attempt to weather the downturn. England - namely the City of London, in splendid isolation, will sink into negative growth, its financiers scrambling to find new speculative opportunities among the Gulf petrol-states and other ‘niches’. Eastern and Central Europe, particularly Poland and the Czech Republic , will deepen their ties to Germany but will suffer the consequences of the general decline of world markets. Southern Europe ( Greece , Spain , Portugal and Italy ) will enter into a deep depression as the massive debt payments fueled by savage assaults on wages and social benefits will severely reduce consumer demand.
Depression level unemployment and under-employment running to one-third of the labor force will detonate year-long social conflicts, intensifying into popular uprisings. Eventually a break-up of the European Union is almost inevitable. The euro as a currency of choice will be replaced by or return to national issues accompanied by devaluations and protectionism. Nationalism will be the order of the day. Banks in Germany , France and Switzerland will suffer huge losses on their loans to the South. Major bailouts will become necessary, polarizing German and French societies, between the tax-paying majorities and the bankers. Trade union militancy and rightwing pseudo ‘populism’ (neo-fascism) will intensify the class and national struggles
A depressed, fragmented and polarized Europe will be less likely to join in any Zionist inspired US-Israeli military adventure against Iran (or even Syria ). Crises ridden Europe will oppose Washington ’s confrontationalist approach to Russia and China .
The US : The Recession Returns with a Vengeance
The US economy will suffer the consequences of its ballooning fiscal deficit and will not be able to spend its way out of the world recession of 2012. Nor can it count on ‘exporting’ its way out of negative growth by turning to previously dynamic Asia, as China, India and the rest of Asia are losing economic steam. China will grow far below its 9% moving average. India will decline from 8% to 5% or lower. Moreover, the Obama regime’s military policy of ‘encirclement’, its economic policy of exclusion and protectionism will preclude any new stimulus from China .
Militarism Exacerbates the Economic Downturn
The US and England will be the biggest losers from the Iraqi post war economic reconstruction. Of $186 billion dollars in infrastructure projects, US and UK corporations will gain less than 5% (Financial Times, 12/16/11, p 1 and 3). A similar outcome is likely in Libya and elsewhere. US imperial militarism destroys an adversary, plunging into debt to do so, and non-belligerents reap the lucrative post-war economic reconstruction contracts.
The US economy will fall into recession in 2012 and the “jobless recovery of 2011” will be replaced by a steep increase of unemployment in 2012. In fact, the entire labor force will shrink as people losing their unemployment benefits will fail to register.
Labor exploitation (“productivity”) will intensify as capitalists force workers to produce more, for less pay, thus widening the income gap between wages and profits.
The economic downturn and growth of unemployment will be accompanied by savage cuts in social programs to subsidize financially troubled banks and industries. The debates among the parties will be over how large the cuts to workers and retirees will be to secure the ‘confidence’ of the bondholders. Faced with equally limited political choices, the electorate will react by voting out incumbents, abstaining and via spontaneous and organized mass movements, such as the “occupy Wall Street” protest. Dissatisfaction, hostility and frustration will pervade the culture. Democratic Party demagogues will scapegoat China ; the Republican Party demagogues will blame the immigrants. Both will fulminate against “the Islamo-fascists” and especially against Iran .
New Wars in the Midst of Crises: Zionists Pull the Trigger
The ‘52 Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organizations’ and their “Israel First” followers in the US Congress, State Department, Treasury and the Pentagon will push for war with Iran . If they are successful it will result in a regional conflagration and world depression. Given the extremist Israeli regime’s success in securing blind obedience to its war policies from the US Congress and White House, any doubts about the real possibility of a major catastrophic outcome can be set aside.
China: Compensatory Mechanisms in 2012
China will face the global recession of 2012 with several possibilities of ameliorating its impact. Beijing can shift toward producing goods and services for the 700 million domestic consumers currently out of the economic loop. By increasing wages, social services and environmental safety, China can compensate for the loss of overseas markets. China ’s economic growth, which is largely dependent on real estate speculation, will be adversely affected when the bubble is burst. A sharp downturn will result, leading to job losses, municipal bankruptcies and increased social and class conflicts. This can result in either greater repression or gradual democratization. The outcome will profoundly affect China ’s market - state relations. The economic crisis will likely strengthen state control over the market.
Russia Faces the Crises
Russia ’s election of President Putin will lead to less collaboration in backing US promoted uprisings and sanctions against Russian allies and trading partners. Putin will turn toward greater ties with China and will benefit from the break-up of the EU and the weakening of NATO.
The western media backed opposition will use its financial clout to erode Putin’s image and encourage investment boycotts though they will lose the Presidential elections by a big margin. The world recession will weaken the Russian economy and will force it to choose between greater public ownership or greater dependency on state funds to bail out prominent oligarchs.
The Transition 2011 – 2012: From Regional Stagnation and Recession to World Crises
The year 2011 laid the groundwork for the breakdown of the European Union. The crises began with the demise of the Euro, stagnation in the US and the outbreak of mass protests against the obscene inequalities on a world scale. The events of 2011 were a dress rehearsal for a new year of full scale trade wars between major powers, sharpening inter-imperialist struggles and the likelihood of popular rebellions turning into revolutions. Moreover, the escalation of Zionist orchestrated war fever against Iran in 2011 promises the biggest regional war since the US-Indo-Chinese conflict. The electoral campaigns and outcomes of Presidential elections in the US , Russia and France will deepen the global conflicts and economic crises.
During 2011 the Obama regime announced a policy of military confrontation with Russia and China and policies designed to undermine and degrade China ’s rise as a world economic power. In the face of a deepening economic recession and with the decline of overseas markets, especially in Europe , a major trade war will unfold. Washington will aggressively pursue policies limiting Chinese exports and investments. The White House will escalate its efforts to disrupt China ’s trade and investments in Asia, Africa and elsewhere. We can expect greater US efforts to exploit China ’s internal ethnic and popular conflicts and to increase its military presence off China ’s coastline. A major provocation or fabricated incident in this context is not to be excluded. The result in 2012 could lead to rabid chauvinist calls for a costly new ‘Cold War’. Obama has provided the framework and justification for a large-scale, long-term confrontation with China . This will be seen as a desperate effort to prop up US influence and strategic positions in Asia . The US military “quadrangle of power” – US-Japan-Australia-South Korea – with satellite support from the Philippines , will pit China ’s market ties against Washington ’s military build-up.
Europe: Deeper Austerity and Intensified Class Struggle
The austerity programs imposed in Europe, from England to Latvia to southern Europe will really take hold in 2012. Massive public sector firings and reduced private sector salaries and job opportunities will lead to a year of permanent class warfare and regime challenges. The ‘austerity policies’ in the South, will be accompanied by debt defaults resulting in bank failures in France and Germany . England ’s financial ruling class, isolated from Europe, but dominant in England , will insist that the Conservatives ‘repress’ labor and popular unrest. A new tough neo-Thatcherite style of autocratic rule will emerge; the Labor-trade union opposition will issue empty protests and tighten the leash on the rebellious populace. In a word, the regressive socio-economic policies put in place in 2011 have set the stage for new police-state regimes and more acute and possibly bloody confrontations with workers and unemployed youth with no future.
The Coming Wars that Ends America “As We Know It”
Within the US , Obama has laid the groundwork for a new and bigger war in the Middle East by relocating troops from Iraq and Afghanistan and concentrating them against Iran . To undermine Iran , Washington is expanding clandestine military and civilian operations against Iranian allies in Syria , Pakistan , Venezuela and China . The key to the US and Israeli bellicose strategy toward Iran is a series of wars in neighboring states, world- wide economic sanctions , cyber-attacks aimed at disabling vital industries and clandestine terrorist assassinations of scientists and military officials. The entire push, planning and execution of the US policies leading up to war with Iran can be empirically and without a doubt attributed to the Zionist power configuration occupying strategic positions in the US Administration, mass media and ‘civil society’.
A systematic analysis of American policymakers designing and implementing economic sanctions policy in Congress finds prominent roles for such mega-Zionists (Israel-Firsters) as Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Howard Berman; in the White House, Dennis Ross in the White House, Jeffrey Feltman in the State Department, and Stuart Levy, and his replacement David Cohen, in the Treasury. The White House is totally beholden to Zionist fund raisers and takes its cue from the ‘52 Presidents of the Major American Jewish Organization. The Israeli-Zionist strategy is to encircle Iran , weaken it economically and attack its military. The Iraq invasion was the US ’s first war for Israel ; the Libyan war the second; the current proxy war against Syria is the third. These wars have destroyed Israel ’s adversaries or are in the process of doing so.
During 2011, economic sanctions, which were designed to create domestic discontent in Iran , were the principle weapon of choice. The global sanctions campaign engaged the entire energies of the major Jewish-Zionist lobbies. They have faced no opposition from the mass media, Congress or the White Office. The Zionist Power Configuration (ZPC) has been virtually exempt from criticism by any of the progressive, leftist and socialist journals, movements or grouplets – with a few notable exceptions. The past year’s re-positioning of US troops from Iraq to the borders of Iran , the sanctions and the rising Big Push from Israel ’s Fifth Column in the US means expanded war in the Middle East . This likely means a “surprise” aerial and maritime missile attack by US forces. This will be based on a concocted pretext of an “imminent nuclear attack” concocted by Israeli Mossad and faithfully transmitted by the ZPC to their lackeys US Congress and White House for consumption and transmission to the world. It will be a destructive, bloody, prolonged war for Israel ; the US will bear the direct military cost by itself and the rest of the world will pay a dear economic price. The Zionist-promoted US war will convert the recession of early 2012 into a major depression by the end of the year and probably provoke mass upheavals.
Conclusion
All indications point to 2012 being a turning point year of unrelenting economic crisis spreading outward from Europe and the US to Asia and its dependencies in Africa and Latin America . The crisis will be truly global. Inter-imperial confrontations and colonial wars will undermine any efforts to ameliorate this crisis. In response, mass movements will emerge moving over time from protests and rebellions, and hopefully to social revolutions and political power.
James Petras is a frequent contributor to Global Research. Global Research Articles by James Petras
Joined: 14 Dec 2005 Posts: 475 Location: North London
Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 2:06 pm Post subject: UK debt 1,000% of GDP
We know that UK is in deep economic nonsense yet the general public don’t know how bad it is, http://bit.ly/uP6tGe
We are being royally conned by our government and sooner or later, the UK will hit an economic wall. (Note, SNP policies, they seem to be getting away from the UK.)
An economic blogger states:
Quote:
‘As well as aggregate UK private debt exceeding America’s, the UK also has a higher debt to GDP ratio for every sector. However as usual, government debt, about which politicians and neoclassical economists obsess, is the smallest component of total debt, and has only started to grow after the crisis began. To emphasise one point on which I emphatically agree with MMT economists, public debt is not the problem, and attempting to reduce public debt now is the wrong policy—from my perspective, because it would add public sector deleveraging to private sector deleveraging, thus exacerbating the underlying problem of deleveraging.’
In 2008, I told a friend that the UK was a big version of Greece. He responded angrily. A few months ago, information surfaced stating that the UK’s debt was 1,000% of its GDP!
The blogger has now checked official UK figures and found that it’s right:
- UK has 1,000% debt
- UK debt is composed of government, household, finance and business
- Government debt is the smallest
Meanwhile, global production or GDP is growing! If figures are to be believed, there is no global recession, http://econ.st/rEhQK7
• 2010, Global GDP - $63 trillion
• 2011, Global GDP - $70 trillion
(GDP is a financial estimate of the production of goods and services.)
What might happen to the UK? We've come across Foundation X:
Lord James of Blackheath, Speech on Foundation X (House of Lords, 01/11/2010), http://bit.ly/va6efs
Joined: 14 Dec 2005 Posts: 475 Location: North London
Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2012 12:03 pm Post subject: Bank run?
I think people need to start planning in case of a bank run or bank holiday. The Guardian is admitting to the possibility of a new credit crisis, http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/04/credit-crunch-fears-rec ord-deposit. There has already been two panic moves by the ECB and other central banks to bail out some banks and promote ‘liquidity’. People like Gerald Celente has been warning of a bank run following the collapse of MF Global.
As stated, the UK has the world's biggest debt compared to GDP and most of it is financial or derivatives. If the US dollar goes then I think Sterling will go down with it.
Planning for a bank run, as many of you know, is about having access to your money in the bank. A bank run/bank holiday means you won’t.
AN INDEPENDENT COMMISSION FOR THE REPATRIATION OF MISAPPOPRIATED MONIES AND ASSETS
House of Lords
Committee Room 4a
Wednesday 20 July 2011 1530
Against the background of sweeping changes making their way through the Muslim territories marked out in North Africa and the Middle East, populations with no history of true autonomous government within living memory will be expected to put together ”all new” leadership regimes. It is hoped by those same populations, substantially Muslim, that their new self-government will be an interim form of Islamic Democracy, meaning a constitution based consultative.
In turn this new leadership is expected to plan, develop and implement a new social and technical infrastructure, which should include a domestic financial system that is devised with out-of-the-box thinking.
All of this will take funding and the question arises, where will the monies come from? The answer is that a substantial amount of public monies belonging to those populations exist. Often transferred out of the state and in some cases monies and assets were never even repatriated to the domestic economy, thereby avoiding any record of them in the domestic accounts or home banking system.
These monies and assets have been misappropriated by the corrupt and tyrannical rulers that have plagued the regions for decades. Those rulers treated the state funds as their own personal purses and were allowed to manage and transfer them globally, all with the co-operation of the banks in the West. All transactions with these, domestically overseas – technically offshore, monies and assets were undertaken with at least tacit approval of Western governments and usually explicit approval.
Britain, France and the US struggled to get an approval through the UN Security Council for a no fly zone, an endeavour that took almost a month and the support of the Arab League before gaining full approval. This compares with the announcement on 23rd February 2011 by the US State Department that they were “looking into” the “possibility” of sanctions. On the 27th February 2011, only 4 days later (and a Sunday), the UN Security Council voted unanimously for the imposition of sanctions against Libya. It is noted with interest that on Monday 28th February the US Treasury announced they had seized more than US$30bn of Libyan assets and that a search was still on.
How did the US Treasury round up all those monies in 1 day? They didn’t. Actually the assets were seized over the weekend under an executive order issued by President Obama on Friday 25th 2011.
It is a cause of considerable concern to the Muslim populations of the world that the US felt comfortable to act unilaterally to seize funds, but would not act unilaterally to save lives. It is also a cause of considerable concern that whilst a total of around US$100bn of Libyan monies and assets have been seized around the world, the same world governments have completely failed to enact sanctions, or even act independently, to trace and seize the misappropriated funds of the Tunisian and Egyptian peoples.
The wind of changes blowing in the MENA region give all the appearances of further regime changes, which in turn will mean further opportunities for the tracing, seizure and return of even more misappropriated monies and assets.
It is concluded that given the complicity of world governments to turn a blind eye and even encourage tyrannical despots to misappropriate domestic state funds, against the best interests of the people, it is clearly necessary to set up an independent and Muslim controlled commission to facilitate the investigation, seizure, collection, return and audit of misappropriated state funds.
As a show of good faith to the peoples, in the spirit of truth and reconciliation, this commission should have the full support and unfettered access to the central banks of the world and the private banks and institutions under their dominion, to help this independent commission. The need for this commission is being advanced by the independent think tank Global Vision 2000 who are naming it the ROMMA Commission.
_________________ 'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Mass Banking Resignations Signal a Purging Has Begun?
Anthony Freda Art
Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
According to a list compiled by independent blog, American Kabuki, at least 122 banking directors, CEOs, and board members of both national and international stature have resigned since September of last year. The blog recently posted a list of all 122 of these individuals with links to the announcements and reports of their resignation.
The fact that banks have been reshuffling their personnel is, of course, nothing new. However, 122 resignations does seem like a large number, particularly when one realizes that many of these resignations are coming from relatively large institutions.
As a result, there has been much speculation and concern on the part of many observers as to what these shifts actually mean.
While it should be mentioned that the list contains resignations from some institutions that are relatively small in terms of international finance, one might also do well to remember that banks, insurance companies, corporations, and governments are often tied together by a seemingly infinite number of spiderweb connections that only become visible as certain parts of the financial relationships are unearthed.
To be clear, this writer is not suggesting that every single bank included in this list is part of a criminal conspiracy, cover-up, or act of misconduct. In fact, I am not suggesting that any of them are. However, when it comes to some institutions such as the World Bank or the Bank of England, the history of treachery is obvious and should be kept in mind as you draw your own conclusions.
In fact, it is the resignations taking place amidst these larger institutions that should be a cause for greater concern in the first place.
Indeed, the number of resignations taking place amongst large institutions such as CitiBank, Lloyds Banking Group, UBS, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan alone should be enough to turn some heads.
But there is also an alarming number of central banks included on this list as well. Perhaps the most surprising is the fact that Phillip Hildebrand, the head of Switzerland’s central bank, recently handed in his resignation. Not only that, but there have been resignations coming from several other central banks including Argentina, Kuwait, Nicaraqua, and Kenya.
Even the World Bank is now accepting the resignation of Robert Zoellick.
The truth is, we don’t know what these resignations actually mean. Are they merely coincidence? Is this par for the course in the international banking industry?
Or are we witnessing the beginning of a rush for the exits by those who are in a position to see what is coming down the pike? Considering the state of the world financial system, this would not be too hard to believe.
Or are we witnessing a panicked flight of the guilty on the eve of a coming round of real investigations? Might there be a coming worldwide financial scandal that these individuals would drastically like to avoid?
Either way, 122 resignations from September to March at least sounds like a big number. It would be nice to know exactly what the rate of resignation was in previous years. Until we are able to find that number, it might be wise for us to ask ourselves what these individuals know that we don’t.
Below is the list of resignations as compiled by AmericanKabuki.blogspot.com along with some additions at the end:
1. 9/01/11 (USA NY) Bank of New York Mellon Chief Robert P. Kelly Resigns in a Shake-UP
http://goo.gl/NdW7q
2. 09/20/11 (SCOTLAND) SCOTTISH WIDOWS (RETIREMENT INVESTMENT SAVINGS FUND) There could be no Scottish representative on the board of Lloyds Banking Group, owner of Bank of Scotland, in future after it announced the departure of Lord Sandy Leitch, the chairman of Scottish Widows and group deputy chairman.
http://goo.gl/Dx8qs
3. 9/25/11 (SWITZERLAND) UBS CEO Oswald Gruebel quits over £1.5bn rogue trader crisis
http://goo.gl/WCeqB
4. 9/28/11 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Bank Council: Fritz Studer resigns as per end-April 2012
http://goo.gl/7dNiD
5. 10/29/11 (CHINA) China Construction Bank Corp Chairman Guo Shuqing resigns
http://goo.gl/fdd9v
6. 10/29/11 (CHINA) Agricultural Bank of China Ltd Chairman Xiang Junbo resigns
http://goo.gl/yWX9R
7. 11/01/11 (INDIA) More directors of the Beed district bank resign
http://goo.gl/HD8BQ
8. 11/02/11 (UK) Lloyds Banking Group chief executive, António Horta-Osório, is to take leave of absence on health grounds for six to eight weeks, the BBC has reported. (STILL OUT AS OF 2/24/12 - DEFACTO RESIGNATION)
http://goo.gl/3L9gE
9. 11/21/11 (JAPAN) UBS’s Japan Investment Banking Chairman Matsui to Resign
http://goo.gl/OiDiq
10. 11/29/11 (USA) R. David Land Submits Resignation from the Boards of Directors of Peoples Bancorp. and Seneca National Bank
http://goo.gl/XncOc
11. 12/15/11 (UK) Senior private banker James Fleming resigns from Coutts [private bank]
http://goo.gl/ANN5B
12. 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Chairman Mark Giles quits VNB
http://goo.gl/dFDpH
13. 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Board Member Claire Gargalli quits VNB
http://goo.gl/kowkW
14. 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Board Member Leslie Disharoon quits VNB
http://goo.gl/kstLp
15. 12/23/11 (USA VA) Bank feud: Board Member Neal Kassell quits VNB
http://goo.gl/NrrPZ
16. 1/01/12 (NIGERIA) United Bank for Africa Plc Victor Osadolor resigns
http://goo.gl/b6AoA
17. 1/01/12 (ISRAEL) Israel's Bank Leumi CEO Galia Maor steps down after 16 years
http://goo.gl/xwlFt
18. 1/03/12 (USA VA) Suffolk Bancorp president and CEO J. Gordon Huszagh steps down
http://goo.gl/joExI
19. 1/03/12 (UK) Arbuthnot Banking Group: Neil Kirton resigned from the Board
http://goo.gl/SKE7j
20. 1/03/12 (UK) Arbuthnot Banking Group: Atholl Turrell left the Board.
http://goo.gl/bzZtQ
21. 1/05/12 (UK) Saunderson House [Private Bank] CEO Nick Fletcher steps down
http://goo.gl/zvo1L
22. 1/09/12 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Chairman Philipp Hildebrand resigns
http://goo.gl/5qsUu
23. 1/19/12 (SPAIN) Spanish bank Santander's Americas chief Francisco Luzon quits
http://goo.gl/jEY7Y
24. 1/30/12 (UK) Butterfield Private Bank head Danny Dixon Steps Down
http://goo.gl/sdY1p
25. 1/20/12 (JAPAN) Normura's head of wholesale banking Jasjit Bhattai quits
http://goo.gl/6FuWe
26. 1/21/12 (Greece) Institute of International Finance negotiator Charles Dallara quits
http://goo.gl/NbPlt
27. 1/21/12 (Greece) Institute of International Finance negotiator Jean Lemierre quits
http://goo.gl/E3AkE
28. 1/29/12 (NEW ZEALAND) New Zealand Reserve Bank Gov Alan Bollard to Step Down
http://goo.gl/BwUgv
29. 1/31/12 (SCOTLAND) Royal Bank of Scotland former CEO Fred Goodwin Stripped of Knighthood
http://goo.gl/CoLVS
30. 2/01/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) ABSA [Barclay's Bank] deputy CEO Louis von Zeuner resigns
http://goo.gl/IP8nH
31. 2/01/12 (UK) Lloyds Bankging Group head of wholesaleTruett Tate quits
http://goo.gl/OqRVo
32. 2/01/12 (UK) Llyods Banking Group Tim Tookey leaving end of February
http://goo.gl/vjO5M
33. 2/02/12 (VENEZUELA) Banking Crisis Arne Chacon arrested for Banking Corruption
http://goo.gl/bb5sh
34. 2/05/12 (USA - NY) Morgan's investment banking chairman Joseph Perella quit
http://goo.gl/pG2jF
35. 2/05/12 (USA - NY) Morgan Stanley investment banking Tarek Abdel-Meguid quit
http://goo.gl/bRv9K
36. 2/06/12 (INDIA) Dhanlaxmi Bank CEO Amitabh Chaturvedi quits:
http://goo.gl/OhCEb
37. 2/7/12 (USA) Bank Of America's Mortgage Business Chief Barbara Desoer Retires
http://goo.gl/i7AUY
38. 2/07/12 (INDIA) Kotak Mahindra Bank Falguni Nayar quits
http://goo.gl/fP03J
39. 2/07/12 (IRAN) Iran denies central bank resignation rumor (don't believe until its denied?)
http://goo.gl/PiQSy
40. 2/09/12 (VATICAN) Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR) Four Priests (names were not disclosed) charged In Vatican Banking Scandal. CEO Paolo Cipriani and bank president Ettore Gotti Tedeschi (a member of Opus Dei) are under investigation.
http://goo.gl/tW8Sj
41. 2/9/12 (UKRAINE) National Bank of Ukraine deputy governor Volodymyr Krotiuk quits
http://goo.gl/8BuXy
42. 2/10/12 (KOREA) Korea Exchange Bank chief Larry Klane steps down
http://goo.gl/DBKdc
43. 2/10/12 (INDIA) Tamilnad Mercantile Bank CEO A K Jagannathan resigns
http://goo.gl/wMl5g
44. 2/13/12 (KUWAIT) Kuwait Central Bank CEO Sheikh Salem Abdulaziz Al Sabbah resigns
http://goo.gl/GFvIy
45. 2/14/12 (NICARAQUA) Nicaraqua Central Bank President Antenor Rosales resigns
http://goo.gl/iQ0n8
46. 2/14/12 (UK) Social finance pioneer Malcolm Hayday quits Charity Bank
http://goo.gl/uHp6C
47. 2/15/12 (WORLD) World Bank CEO Zoellick resigns
http://goo.gl/dHDSm
Did the White House tell the World Bank president that he's out?
http://goo.gl/wUOgb
48. 2/15/12 (SLOVENIA) Nova Kreditna Banka Maribor CEO Andrej Plos resigns
http://goo.gl/SNsVI
49. 2/15/12 (SLOVENIA) Nova Ljubljanska Banka d.d. CEO Bozo Jasovic resigns
http://goo.gl/TyYiJ
50. 2/16/12 (UK) The Financial Services Authority Margaret Cole is to step down
http://goo.gl/yT6rS
51. 2/16/12 (GHANA) Databank Group Executive Chair Ken Ofori-Atta steps down
http://goo.gl/c7PtU
52. 2/16/12 (SAUDI ARABIA) Saudi Hollandi Banks Managing Director Geoffrey Calvert Quits
http://goo.gl/CtmOU
53. 2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) ANZ Bank Australia CFO Peter Marriott resigns
http://goo.gl/I7Alo
54. 2/16/12 (UK) Royal Bank of Scotland Sr Equities Trader Jason Edinburgh Arrested
http://goo.gl/WczHh
55. 2/16/12 (UK) Royal Bank of Scotland director equities bus. Vincent Walsh director Arrested
http://goo.gl/I7Alo
56. 2/16/12 (UK) Marex Spectron senior trader Michael Elsom Arrested
http://goo.gl/I7Alo
57. 2/16/12 (AUSTRALIA) Royal Bank of Scotland Austrailan CEO Stephen Williams resigns
http://goo.gl/4r16D
58. 2/17/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein out as by summer
http://goo.gl/UjpzD
59. 2/17/12 (SWITZERLAND) SNB Council President Hansueli Raggenbass resigns
http://goo.gl/1n1Nr
60. 2/18/12 (PAKISTAN) The Bank of Azad Jammu & Kashmir executive Zulfiqar Abbasi resigns
http://goo.gl/G0woP
61. 2/20/12 (RUSSIA) Head of Russian Bank Regulator Gennady Melikyan Steps Down
http://goo.gl/Unuez
62. 2/20/12 (SWITZERLAND) Credit Suisse Chief Joseph Tan resigns
http://goo.gl/F5twL
63. 2/20/12 (ISRAEL) Bank Leumi le-Israel Ltd: Zvi Itskovitch resigns
http://goo.gl/aA0RW
64. 2/20/12 (USA WA) First Financial Northwest Director Spencer Schneider Quits
http://goo.gl/6Dj0i
65. 2/21/12 (ARGENTINA) Central Bank of Argentina (BCRA) Gen Mgr Benigno Velez, resigns
http://goo.gl/DuMrm
66. 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Abdul Matlub resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB
67. 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Selima Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB
68. 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Nitol Insurance Co. Ltd director Abdul Musabbir Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB
69. 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) City General Insurance Co. Ltd director Geasuddin Ahmad resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on unknown bank
http://goo.gl/aEmwB
70. 2/21/12 (BANGLADESH) Social Islami Bank Limited director Taslima Akter resigns
conflict of interest with director seat on Eastland Insurance Company Limited
http://goo.gl/aEmwB
71. 2/21/12 (JAPAN) CITIBANK JAPAN: Bakhshi is taking over duties from Brian Mccappin, who the bank said in December would resign after the unit was banned for two weeks from trading tied to the London and Tokyo interbank offered rates.
http://goo.gl/Z1rnw
72. 2/22/12 (HONG KONG) DZ BANK project finance head Tim Meaney quits
http://goo.gl/ppKno
73. 2/22/12 (USA) Goldman Sachs Hedge Fund Group Chief Howard Wietschner to Retire
http://goo.gl/x4Zsr
74. 2/23/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) Richard Gush resigns from Standard Bank
http://goo.gl/DTL5S
75. 2/23/12 (SCOTLAND) Royal Bank of Scotland Group director John McFarlane resigns.
http://goo.gl/KoEUI
76. 2/24/12 (INDIA) Breaking: ICICI Bank GC Pramod Rao resigns
http://goo.gl/5eUqU
77. 2/24/12 (HONG KONG) Citigroup Pvt Bank Global Real Estate Kwang Meng Quek Resigns
http://goo.gl/JIC9A
78. 2/24/12 (NEW ZEALAND) FSF Executive Director Kirk Hope resigns
http://goo.gl/6UJau
79. 2/24/12 (USA) Evercore Partners Head Eduardo Mestre steps down
http://goo.gl/n5RLY
80. 2/25/12 (AUSTRALIA AND NZ) Goldman Sachs Chairman Stephen Fitzgerald quits
http://goo.gl/nMTLW
81. 2/27/12 (GERMANY) Deutsche Bank Americas chief Seth Waugh steps down
http://goo.gl/8lxSw
82. 2/27/12 (BAHRAIN) Khaleeji Commercial Bank CEO Ebrahim Ebrahim quits
http://goo.gl/yKjzL
83. 2/27/12 (FRANCE) Societe Generale’s Investment Banking Chief Michel Péretié Steps Down
http://goo.gl/IJ5Lw
84. 2/27/12 (MALAYSIA) Elaf Bank CEO Dr El Jaroudi resigns
http://goo.gl/eVCS5
85. 2/27/12 (INDIA) Kotak Mahindra Bank Ms Falguni Nayar Quits
http://goo.gl/pTbII
86. 2/27/12 (GERMANY) Equiduct chairman Artur Fischersteps down
http://goo.gl/Q0dWR
87. 2/27/12 (BAHRAIN) - Mumtalakat Holding [Sovereign Wealth Fund] CEO Al Zain resigns
http://goo.gl/hhHSm
88. 2/27/12 (IRAN) Bank Melli CEO Mahmoud Reza Khaavari Resigns - Flees to Canada!
http://goo.gl/DDEUk
89. 2/27/12 (IRAN) Bank Saderat CEO Mohammad Jahromi resigns
http://goo.gl/ZD0mc
90. 2/27/12 (UK) Lloyds Banking Group Glen Moreno steps down
http://goo.gl/dsXcE
91. 2/28/12 (HONG KONG) Hang Seng Bank CEO Margaret Leung Ko May-yee quits
http://goo.gl/Uo800
92. 2/28/12 (CHINA) Bank of China International ECM global head Marshall Nicholson quits
http://goo.gl/26MYq
93. 2/28/12 (SINGAPORE) DBS security head Jim Pasqurell quits, cites health reasons
http://goo.gl/NDJze
94. 2/28/12 (HONG KONG) Bank of America's Asia-Pac. mrkts Brian Canniffe quits
http://goo.gl/cRkCP
95. 2/28/12 (BELGIUM) KBC's CEO Jan Vanhevel is to retire after a career spanning 41 years.
http://goo.gl/1rCWd
96. 2/28/12 (CANADA) Ontario Securities Commission chairwoman Peggy-Anne Brown quits
http://goo.gl/HIYXv
97. 2/28/12 (AUSTRALIA) Bank manager Colin John Carleton jailed nine years for $3m theft
http://goo.gl/ggPvq
98. 2/28/12 (SRI LANKA) Sri Lanka Com Bank CEO Amitha Gooneratne retires
http://goo.gl/YxvNA
99. 2/28/12 (SOUTH AFRICA) REDEFINE INCOME FUND director Gerald Leissner resigns
http://goo.gl/F0UgN
100. 2/28/12 (ITALY) UNICREDIT: Chairman Dieter Rampl not available for a new mandate
http://goo.gl/7aLRU
101. 2/28/12 (UK) Bank of England Sir David Lees re-appointed Chair of Bank of England and gives notice of resignation at end of 2013
http://goo.gl/LkJhV
102. 2/28/12 (IRELAND) State Street Global Advisors Cash Funds plc Director Keith Walsh resigns
http://goo.gl/n6uoM
103. 2/29/12 (AUSTRALIA) Perpetual portfolio manager Matt Williams steps down
http://goo.gl/Jh9jd
104. 2/29/12 (UK) Honister Capital CEO Richard Pearson steps down
http://goo.gl/014or
105. 3/1/12 (MALAYSIA) RHB Bank Bhd deputy managing director Renzo Viegas quits
http://goo.gl/wACrI
106. 3/1/12 (ITALY) Italian Banking Association Chairman Giuseppe Mussari talks to reporters in Rome after he and seven other executives offered to resign in protest over new banking-fee rules included in the government's legislation on boosting competition.
http://goo.gl/3llyT
107. 3/1/12 (USA FL) Florida Venture Forum [Venture Capital] Exec Dir Robin Lester quits
http://goo.gl/nA8g9
108. 3/1/12 (USA) PineBridge Investments said Win Neuger has resigned as chief executive. Neuger helped build AIG's third party asset management business, PineBridge still manages AIG assets
109. 3/1/12 (SINGAPORE) UBS Singapore - James Tulley is leaving Switzerland’s largest bank, it is not clear where he is going.
http://goo.gl/BGugF http://goo.gl/SI7kT
110. 3/1/12 (USA NH) Piscataqua Savings Bank CEO Jay Gibson retires
http://goo.gl/uEqDV
111. 3/2/12 (CHINA) China Construction Bank Corp, the assistant general manager and head of corporate banking Mickey Mehta quits
http://goo.gl/B9dR0
112. 3/2/12 (USA) Deutsche Bank Student Loan CEOJohn Hupalo quits to start student loan counseling firm.
http://goo.gl/8kZuc
113. 3/2/12 (UK) Bank of England Sir Mervin King resigns in June, Lord Sassoon tipped as replacement.
http://goo.gl/ZEUwf
114. 3/2/12 (BOTSWANA) Barclays Bank Botswana managing director Wilfred Mpai forced to resign
http://goo.gl/npBe2
115. 3/2/12 (HONG KONG) New Century Group Hong Kong Ltd [investment house and leisure group] Wilson Ng resigns
http://goo.gl/wFSV8
116. 3/2/12 (USA) Citigroup Richard Parsons to step down as chairman
http://goo.gl/BhZ0F
117. 3/3/12 (AUSTRIA) Volksbank AG (VBAG) The contract of CEO Gerald Wenzel will not be extended
http://goo.gl/w99tD
118. 3/4/12 (KOREA) Hana Financial Group Inc, prominent figure in the history of South Korean finance Kim Seung-yu , resigns
http://goo.gl/fmNxY
119. 3/4/12 (USA) JP Morgan prop trading chief Mike Stewart quits
http://goo.gl/gubPj
120. 3/5/12 ( SAUDI ARABIA) Al Rajhi Bank CEO Abdullah bin Sulaiman Al Rajhi has resigned
http://goo.gl/pNx0l
121. 3/5/12 (UK) Jupiter fund co-manager Tony Nutt steps down
http://goo.gl/RPqOp
122. 3/5/12 (UK) Jupiter fund co-manager John Hamilton steps down
http://goo.gl/RPqOp
Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Mullins, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor's Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius -- The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions. Turbeville has published over one hundred articles dealing with a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville is available for podcast, radio, and TV interviews. Please contact us at activistpost (at) gmail.com.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Wed Jun 06, 2012 11:29 pm Post subject:
UK banks sitting on £40bn of undeclared losses
Britain's banks are sitting on a £40bn black hole of undeclared losses that are preventing them from making vital loans to businesses and households.
Royal Bank of Scotland was in the worst condition, PIRC found, with £18bn of undeclared losses Photo: Getty Images
By Philip Aldrick - 7:01PM BST 05 Jun 2012 - 496 Comments
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/931251 3/UK-banks-sitting-on-40bn-of-undeclared-losses.html
PIRC, the shareholder advisory group, has analysed the 2011 accounts of the UK's top five banks to calculate how much they expect to write off as bad debt in the coming years but have yet to take against profits.
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was in the worst condition, PIRC found, with £18bn of undeclared losses that would wipe out more than a third of its capital buffer and potentially force the 82pc state-owned lender back to the taxpayer for another rescue.
HSBC had ($16bn) £10bn in undeclared losses, Barclays £6.7bn, Standard Chartered $3.6bn (£2.3bn) and Lloyds Banking Group £2.9bn. PIRC presented its numbers to all the banks and said none disputed them.
Profits at Britain's lenders have been flattered by controversial international accounting standards introduced in 2005 that prevent companies from provisioning against potential losses. The rules have been attacked by the House of Lords, among others, as deeply flawed.
PIRC said the rule was "masking the true position [of the accounts] by including fictional assets and fictional profits".
Dividends and bonuses are being paid out on inflated profit numbers, it added, when they should be retained to boost the banks' capital cushions.
Tim Bush, head of governance and financial analysis at PIRC, claimed the undeclared losses meant banks have not been clearing their balance sheets of bad debts and releasing the funds to support viable businesses and households.
"The scandal is the fact that banks are delaying de-risking and de-gearing due to the accounting standards," he said. "The funds are being tied up, rather than being put to work elsewhere." _________________ www.lawyerscommitteefor9-11inquiry.org www.rethink911.org www.patriotsquestion911.com www.actorsandartistsfor911truth.org www.mediafor911truth.org www.pilotsfor911truth.org www.mp911truth.org www.ae911truth.org www.rl911truth.org www.stj911.org www.v911t.org www.thisweek.org.uk www.abolishwar.org.uk www.elementary.org.uk www.radio4all.net/index.php/contributor/2149 http://utangente.free.fr/2003/media2003.pdf
"The maintenance of secrets acts like a psychic poison which alienates the possessor from the community" Carl Jung
https://37.220.108.147/members/www.bilderberg.org/phpBB2/
A former senior Barclays employee today exposes the “culture of fear” that operated at the bank and claims Bob Diamond would have been aware of his traders' activities.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent, the banker alleges that senior executives would have known of Libor fiddling in 2008.
The Serious Fraud Office announced yesterday that it had launched a criminal inquiry into interest rate fixing amid increasing clamour for rogue bankers to be prosecuted.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the banker says that senior Barclays bosses would have been told about Libor concerns because staff were drilled to pass anything untoward up to their managers. Failure to do this meant the sack.
"Libor fixing was escalated by several people up to their directors, they would then have escalated it up the line because at Barclays if you don't escalate, and it is found out that you haven't, it is grounds for disciplinary action. You will be dismissed."
The banker also describes the dark side of working for Mr Diamond's bank. He spoke of management by intimidation, even physical threat, punishing hours and a ruthless grading system that left workers in terror of their annual appraisals. Employees were often reduced to tears by the end of a day, but only when they had departed from the building. Such weakness would not be tolerated inside.
The SFO gave no details about who would be the subject of its investigations. It said: "The SFO director, David Green QC, has today decided formally to accept the Libor matter for investigation."
Danny Alexander, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said he was "delighted" by the decision, which helped to strangle a muted recovery in the bank's shares over the past couple of days. Barclays finished down at 164.75p.
Investigations into other banks are continuing on both sides of the Atlantic. Misreporting of Libor figures is thought to have been common practice in the run-up to the financial crisis. Mr Diamond has claimed the scandal engulfing Barclays could put other banks off alerting regulators about such issues in future. He has argued that Barclays has been punished for being a "first mover".
Mr Diamond has always denied prior knowledge of Libor fixing and told MPs on Wednesday he was only made aware of it last month.
Connections between Mr Diamond and Barclays are understood to have been severed. "He's history," said a source. The scandal led to heated exchanges in the Commons between the Chancellor, George Osborne, and shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls. A parliamentary inquiry into the affair, as opposed to a judge-led public enquiry advocated by Labour, was agreed on Thursday.
Lord Ashcroft, a Tory peer, raised the temperature ahead of Monday's appearance before MPs of Paul Tucker, deputy governor of the Bank England. A note of a conversation between Mr Tucker and Mr Diamond, published by Barclays last week, appeared to suggest that senior government officials were endorsing Libor fixing.
Writing on the Conservative Home website, Lord Ashcroft criticised the Tory approach of "trying to establish shady motives on the part of Labour for demanding one type of inquiry rather than another; speculating about the role of former Labour ministers; and wondering what sort of 'senior figures' a Bank of England official was referring to in a conversation with the Barclays chief executive four years ago". He added: "The Libor scandal happened on Labour's watch, but voters have already passed judgement on Labour's time in office."
Mr Tucker is expected to face a grilling from MPs who will want to know exactly who the officials he talked to Mr Diamond about were.
Mr Diamond said he viewed the memo as a warning that the Barclays Libor submissions, which were higher than those of other banks, were worrying government officials.
Last night, a Barclays spokesman pointed out that Rich Ricci, head of the investment banking division, conducted the investigation into the Libor issue and reported to the board. Mr Diamond could not be contacted in time for publication.
Published on Aug 13, 2012 by RussiaToday
For over two decades Turkey's been seeking EU membership, a goal that has recently lost much of its appeal thanks to the ongoing Euro crisis. Financial gloom has caused some Turks - long term EU residents - to head home in search of better jobs and opportunities.
RT (Russia Today) is a global news network broadcasting from Moscow and Washington studios. RT is the first news channel to break the 500 million YouTube views benchmark
_________________ 'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”
Apart from this being a tax raising venture by the US tax authorities as has been shown with Standard Chartered, implications for this is that anyone with a mortgage should set in motion a complaints procedure regarding the manipulation of interest rates. If banks have been fined for fiddling with interest rates as anyone on a variable interest rate would have paid more in monthly repayments.
If the PPI scandal is going to cost hundreds of millions even a few billion god knows what this one is going to cost.
But then again banks always have the trump card up their sleeve, they can put the shutters down and call it a day!!!
Quote:
UK banks face Libor subpoenas from US regulators
Banks including Barclays, HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland reported to have received subpoenas from two US attorney generals investigating the alleged rigging of Libor
• Jill Treanor
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 16 August 2012 08.10 BST
Barclays is one of the banks reported to have subpoenas from US regulators. Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
There is fresh speculation that banks could face action from the US authorities for manipulating Libor, after reports that several banks are being required to co-operate with the New York regulators.
Banks including Barclays – already hit with a record-breaking £290m fine for attempting to manipulate the key interest rates – as well as HSBC and the bailed-out Royal Bank of Scotland are reported to have received subpoenas from the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, and Connecticut's George Jepsen, who are jointly investigating the alleged rigging of Libor.
JPMorgan Chase, UBS, Deutsche and Citigroup are also said to have received requests for co-operation. All of the banks have already said they are co-operating with authorities in the US and other parts of the world in the investigation, which has been going on for more than a year.
The Barclays fine covered two offences: traders manipulating the rates to help each other and rivals; and during the 2008 banking crisis submitting rates that were lower than they should have been to avoid any impression that the bank was in difficulty.
Bob Diamond quit as Barclays chief executive in the wake of the fine, as did Jerry del Missier, his close colleague who instructed the bank's Libor submitters to cut their rates during the 2008 crisis after misunderstanding a conversation with Diamond. Barclays is still seeking Diamond's successor but last week named Sir David Walker as chairman from 1 November, when Marcus Agius will step down.
The RBS chief executive, Stephen Hester, warned last month that his bank was also likely to face fines.
UK regulators have embarked on a review of Libor, which is set when banks submit their estimate of the price they would need to pay to borrow from other banks over periods ranging from overnight to 12 months, in a range of currencies. Martin Wheatley, the senior Financial Services Authority figure conducting the review, will report back next month on how the interest rate used to price financial products around the world can be reformed.
'Jacob Rothschild recently bet approximately 200 million dollars that the euro will go down. Billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson made somewhere around 20 billion dollars betting against the U.S. housing market during the last financial crisis, and now he has made huge bets that the euro will go down and that the price of gold will go up. And as I wrote about in my last article, George Soros put approximately 130 million more dollars into gold last quarter. So will the euro plummet like a rock? Will the price of gold absolutely soar? Well, if a massive financial disaster does occur both of those two things are likely to happen. The European economy is becoming more unstable with each passing day, and investors all over the globe are looking for safe places to put their money. The mainstream media keeps telling us that everything is going to be okay, but the global elite are sending us a much, much different message by their actions. Certainly Rothschild, Paulson and Soros know about things happening in the financial world that the rest of us don't. The fact that they are all behaving in a consistent manner right now should be alarming for all of us....'
'You know the euro is in deep water when a doyen of the banking industry, Lord Jacob Rothschild takes a £130 million ($200 million) bet against it.'
'One of these warriors is John Paulson. The hedge fund manager once made billions by betting on a collapse of the American real estate market. Not surprisingly, the financial world sat up and took notice when Paulson, who is now widely despised in America as a crisis profiteer, announced in the spring that he would bet on a collapse of the euro.'
'There was also news last week in an SEC filing that both George Soros and John Paulson had increased their investment in SPDR Gold Trust, the world’s largest publicly traded physical gold exchange traded fund (ETF).
Mr Soros upped his stake in the ETF to 884,400 shares from 319,550 and Mr Paulson bought 4.53m shares, bringing his stake to 21.3m.
At the current price of about $156 a share, these are new investments of about $88m of Mr Soros’ cash and more than $700m from Mr Paulson’s funds. These are significant positions.' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
British banks face new cash crisis as a result of accounting rules
The UK's largest institutions – including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland – will require extra capital to meet the new standards. Picture: Alamy
British banks are to be forced to raise tens of billions of pounds in fresh capital as a result of new accounting rules due to be announced early in the new year.
• New accounting rules require billions in fresh capital
• Financial lobbies will oppose move to transparency
The UK's largest institutions – including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland – will require extra capital to meet the new standards. The need for fresh fundraisings –on top of the £100bn of capital injections required during the financial crisis – will cause concern for investors in an industry already suffering from allegations of energy fixing and almost £11bn in provisions for payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling.
The fresh requirements will be the result of new international accounting rules regarding when banks take losses for loans on their balance sheets.
Under current rules, losses are taken once they have been incurred. But the fresh proposals would mean a shift to taking expected losses on loans, with a portion of those losses booked initially, with full lifetime losses booked once a loan has begun to deteriorate by a meaningful amount. The changes are designed to give investors and regulators a clearer picture of the quality of a bank's loan book, in a bid to help to avoid a second bank-focused financial crisis.
The Sunday Telegraph understands that the International Accounting Standards Board will publish the new rules in the first quarter of next year. It is further understood that recent stress-testing by major UK banks found that, based on the new rules, provisions for loan losses would have to increase between 30pc and 100pc, dependent on the institution. Bank of England figures show that they have taken around £35bn of provisions for their UK exposures alone.
As a result, the major banks would be forced to raise extra funds to keep capital levels in line with regulators' demands.
A report by corporate governance watchdog PIRC earlier this year estimated that the UK's five biggest banks would require an estimated £27bn of capital to cover expected losses in 2011. The banks disputed the claims, however.
The new rules come on top of mixed messages from the Bank of England regarding adequate capital positions, and with the spectre of Basel III hanging over the industry. British and European banks will be subject to the new accounting standards, and their US rivals to a different take on the expected loss model.
The IASB and its US counterpart, the Financial Accounting Standards Board, had been trying to come up with a global expected-loss rule, but parted ways over the summer. US banks will be forced to take the full expected loss on a loan from the day it is written. But critics suggest this will allow the banks to engage in profit management, writing back losses during growth periods. "The point is that if you are booking higher allowances at the start when expectations are most uncertain, there is more room for exploitation," said an industry source.
The IASB is believed to be poised to publish the new rules in the first quarter, followed by a 120-day consultation process with industry. The final rules will be in place by the end of next year, but banks and auditors will have 18 months to set up systems, so the rules will not be enforced until mid-2015. In a speech he will give to the London School of Economics on Tuesday, IASB chairman Hans Hoogervorst is expected to pile pressure on the financial services industry by announcing planned changes to the way leases are accounted for.
He is expected to detail the joint IASB-FASB plans to bring the majority of the world's $600bn equipment leases on-balance sheet. Currently, a lease where total repayments equate to less than 90pc of its value can be classed as an operating lease and held off balance sheet, with only the operating expense appearing in the profit and loss account.
But Mr Hoogervorst's plans are likely to be fiercely opposed by industry lobby groups on both sides of the Atlantic, due to the benefits of this form of less transparent accounting. _________________ --
'Suppression of truth, human spirit and the holy chord of justice never works long-term. Something the suppressors never get.' David Southwell
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com http://aanirfan.blogspot.com
Martin Van Creveld: Let me quote General Moshe Dayan: "Israel must be like a mad dog, too dangerous to bother."
Martin Van Creveld: I'll quote Henry Kissinger: "In campaigns like this the antiterror forces lose, because they don't win, and the rebels win by not losing."
The Dollar Vigilante's Jeff Berwick is back chatting about a myriad of economic and stock market-related issues with Cambridge House Live's anchor, Bridgitte Anderson. Taped at Cambridge House International's Vancouver Resource Investment Conference. http://www.cambridgehouse.com
_________________ 'Come and see the violence inherent in the system.
Help, help, I'm being repressed!'
“The more you tighten your grip, the more Star Systems will slip through your fingers.”
Cork City Council meeting was suspended (twice) by Property Tax campaigners.
They unfurled a banner reading "Axe the tax or watch your vote collapse" to sustained applause
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Sun Apr 07, 2013 12:30 am Post subject:
Celente - Powerful & Destructive Big Bank Holiday Coming
Today top trends forecaster Gerald Celente warned King World News that people around the world need to brace themselves for a powerful and destructive “big bank holiday,” which he now predicts will happen this year. Celente, who had correctly forecast back in 2012 that a bank holiday would occur in Europe, is the founder of Trends Research and the man many consider to be the top trends forecaster in the world.
Eric King: “Gerald, earlier you mentioned a ‘big bank holiday,’ what do you mean by big bank holiday?”
Celente: “Look at what’s going on in Italy, they don’t have a government yet. It’s been going on for two months (in Italy). Look at their debt/GDP ratio. It’s approaching 130%. How are they going to pay off this debt?
Look at what’s going on in Spain, Portugal, Greece. Those are the bigger bank holidays (that are still to come). They called a bank holiday in the United States in 1933. That’s not ancient history. And what did they do? They devalued the dollar.”
Eric King: “Is that what you see eventually happening here?”
“The credit system, which has as its focus in the so-called national banks and the big money-lenders and usurers surrounding them, constitutes enormous centralisation, and gives to this class of parasites the fabulous power, not only to periodically despoil industrial capitalists, but also to interfere in actual production in a most dangerous manner…” “The Acts of 1844 and 1845 are proof of the growing power of these bandits.”
Marx- Capital Volume Three (Chapter XXXIII):
From the bank bailouts in Greece (which have led to mass unemployment and immiseration not seen since the last German Nazi occupation) we moved on to the bank bail-ins in Cyprus. It is a small island, a still divided ex-British colony with around one million Greek Cypriots and having a massive British military base on it. It became an offshore tax haven for the Russian neo-capitalist oligarchy (due to the dominance of AKEL – the Cypriot Communist Party). It entered the eye of the storm of the continuing Euro crisis in 2013. The ensuing events created essentially a break up of the Euro, transforming it into a two-tier Eurozone, with capital controls re-introduced in Cyprus, initially “temporary”, but all the Troika measures of the last few years it ended up being permanent. Who is doing what to whom and for what ends are some of the issues to be analysed and what effect will they have on the Cypriot working class?
The bank heist was first announced for all deposits. But after the No vote of the Cypriot Parliament only for deposits in excess of E100k. More recently limits were placed on withdrawals less than this figure. It would thus take one person a full year to withdraw the ‘guaranteed’ deposit as withdrawals are limited to E300 daily. The official explanation was that Cyprus had 8 times too many foreign deposit holders, given the GDP of the country. The fact that Luxembourg has around 20 times for the same ratio raises the question as to why Cyprus was selected by the Eurogroup. Was it to warn Greece that if it goes against the EG that’s what happens to you? Two banks, Laiki and Bank of Cyprus were targeted to be shut down by the ECB by winding down liquidity. Surplus banks, with surplus debts are to go the way of surplus products in capitalism, straight to the scrapheap, a policy akin to a scorched earth approach, with no respect to who it destroys in its path.
In the Greek crisis, workers were chosen as the excuse to bring in massive anti-working class attacks by the corporate mass media; in Cyprus the excuse was the participation of the Russian Oligarchs. Whilst the Troika arrived in Cyprus under the previous government of AKEL it was under the new government of Anastasiades and his ex-Finance Minister Sarris that this bail-in was agreed. The idea was to hold everyone responsible for the banking collapse (i.e. anyone and everyone with a bank account). We had the obscene spectacle of the banking system being closed for two weeks, the longest time for any country anywhere since WW2, whilst the people at the top shifted money out to Cypriot outlets based in the UK.
No Vote
Cypriot politicians voted NO to the attacks on bank accounts in Cyprus in order then to propose to ‘save’ bank accounts i.e. the minimum EU guarantee, but to block access to them. This was just a political charade and it was continued when Finance Minister Sarris went to Moscow to ‘negotiate’ when in reality he did nothing of the sort. It has been reported since that his relatives shifted money abroad! These politicians have agreed to bankrupt Cyprus and hand over all gas exploration rights to foreign multinationals. The issue becomes who will get them as the Russians no longer have a look in, so the struggle is between American and German firms. The rapprochement of Israel and Turkey was overplayed alongside Obama’s visit as a counterweight to any ideas of not ‘belonging to the West’. So small Cyprus has re-entered a dark neo-colonial financial meltdown and the coming attacks will be immense:
GDP is estimated to fall by 8% though it may be higher if there were more than 100,000 Cypriots employed in financial services of one sort or another and the recent cost of the bailout has increased from E17B to E23B i.e. another E6B magically added out of thin air:
E70 million in new property taxes
Business tax up from 10% to 12.5%
4.5% wage reductions for wages up to E1k
6.5% wage reductions for wages up to E1.5k
8.5% wage reductions for wages up to E2k
Reducing the public sector
Privatisations to bring in E1.4B from 2013-16
VAT from 17% to 19%
The current mythology perpetrated by the ruling economic terrorists is that all these economic measures will lead to some type of future growth. If Greece is anything to go by this growth has only been in suicides, mass unemployment and depression: nothing else. The other mythology is that these policies aren’t a ‘beggar thy neighbour’ approach by the ECB to keep banks like Deutschebank standing last whilst everyone else is bled dry. Banks, like many consumer products under conditions of collapsing capitalism, are surplus to requirements. Cyprus was chosen on Greek Independence Day (25th March) as a warning to Greece: swallow whatever the Troika throws at you otherwise the ‘Cyprus Option’ will hit your banks as well. The EU is aiming to destroy the social fabric of society with the aim of buying up the island for a pittance after turning the population into scavengers. How the Cypriot population reacts will determine the real fate of these measures over the coming period.
Malta and its 7-billion-euro economy is home to nearly 12 billion in deposits. Other countries with significant deposits are the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Portugal. Even Germany’s 3.1 trillion euros in bank deposits exceed actual economic performance.
The uproar over proposed bank account levies in Cyprus brought to the surface the dangers of financial overreach. If the financial crisis put the security of bank investments to the test, now the issue is deposits...'
'Everything, it seems, has grown worse here. The recession started earlier and its bite has been deeper. Housing prices have fallen by as much as 50 percent. Bank shares have plummeted by more than 90 percent. Unemployment is approaching 10 percent...'
I must be going crackers....I thought I just saw some Banksters rubbing their hands together, and licking their chops..(obviously not; I mean they must be REALLY worried, no? _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
According to excerpts taken from his book, ex-Prime Minister Gordon Brown feared anarchy during the 2008 crisis. According to the book he said:
We’d have to think: do we have curfews, do we put the Army on the streets, how do we get order back?
If the banks are shutting their doors, and the cash points aren’t working, and people go to Tesco and their cards aren’t being accepted, the whole thing will just explode.
If you can’t buy food or petrol or medicine for your kids, people will just start breaking the windows and helping themselves.
And as soon as people see that on TV, that’s the end, because everyone will think that’s OK now, that’s just what we all have to do. It’ll be anarchy. That’s what could happen tomorrow.
Well if he thought that was bad he must be thanking God he’s not in charge now.
There’s no doubt 2008 was bad, but 2013 is worse for the man in the street, even if the government manipulation of figures appears to say otherwise.
As we stumble from one crisis to the next the people are getting restless. Not restless enough for my liking but they are stirring from the deep slumber they have been in for most of their lives.
As costs continue to rise, and people have to make a choice again this winter of heating or eating, they are starting at last to realise that something’s not right.
It was reported in June of this year that the UK will likely face shortages of energy within the next two years. The comments from Ofgem (the office of gas and electricity markets) make grim reading.
In short, spare capacity will be down to around 2% which in a bad winter is almost nothing at all. You can read more here, here and here.
Management Today goes even further and states the risk of the lights going out at double what it was before the Ofgem report.
Energy watchdog Ofgem says we don’t have enough capacity to produce energy – and has suggested rationing might be the only solution.
I suppose it will at least allow people to buy food without worrying about the domestic fuel bills. (sarc)
On the subject of food. How can it be that major supermarket chains can charge £2.79 for a 4-and-a-bit pound bag of small and very mediocre tasting potatoes? Not the 5-pound bags we are used to. The standard 5-pound bag of potatoes have shrunk since kilogrammes got written on the wrapper. Have a look if you don’t believe me.
Same with baked beans. A standard tin should hold 453g of beans, and it did, once, a long time ago. Now it holds 420g. Same size can, same picture, same everything except more money for less produce. Canned tomatoes are even worse, they on average contain 400g. Again, have a look if you don’t believe me.
So, going back to Gordon Brown. Power failures will prevent people accessing cash, power failures will cause illness and death, will create havoc on the roads and at service stations. It will affect everything we have come to take for granted. The benefit system will grind to a halt, payments will be late or lost in cyber space, supermarkets will have freezers full of spoiled food. the list is endless. There’s no doubt that lack of fuel security will cause more problems than the crash of ’08.
When this happens, as many are sure it will, the people of Britain will finally shake themselves awake and look around. When they see what’s going on, that they can no longer keep their kids warm or even cook them a meal, when they see how they are being fleeced at every turn, then David Cameron and his Eton-educated cronies may have a bit of a fight on their hands.
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Tue Oct 01, 2013 12:38 pm Post subject:
And I wonder who has the vast majority of the gold, just the same as they have the land, buildings and infrastructure of the world, as well as the allegience of most of the police and military? _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
Joined: 25 Jul 2005 Posts: 18335 Location: St. Pauls, Bristol, England
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 10:42 am Post subject:
Well it's not the Tory party so who do you mean?
outsider wrote:
And I wonder who has the vast majority of the gold, just the same as they have the land, buildings and infrastructure of the world, as well as the allegience of most of the police and military?
Joined: 30 Jul 2006 Posts: 6060 Location: East London
Posted: Wed Oct 02, 2013 1:44 pm Post subject:
I would have thought that was obvious - the Banksters and shadowy 'NWO' Elite.
Where did the trillions (according to Barbara Honegger, not 2.3 trillion but I believe she said 9-odd trillion was missing from the Pentagon accounts) of 'lost' dollars Rumsfeld said couldn't (and obviouslly, still haven't) be accounted for? And the gold stored at the WTC? And the trillions 'lost' by the Banksters by their 'mistakes' (hah, hah! Does anyone believe the Banksters, controllers of the World, got caught out by 'accident'?
It was just another, bigger, scam to fleece Joe Public. _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
'If there were ever a red flag warning about the economic and financial destruction to come, JP Morgan Chase Bank began flying it this morning.
In a shocking report from Infowars we learned that mega-behemoth Chase has issued letters to thousands of business customers indicating that they will no longer be allowing international wire transfers or cash deposits/withdrawals in excess of a $50,000 monthly cap.
Chase Bank confirmed to Infowars that all business account holders were being subjected to these new regulations. Given that even a relatively small grocery store or restaurant is likely to turnover more than $50k a month in cash payments, this appears to be part of a wider move to shut down businesses who mainly deal in cash.
When Mike Adams of Natural News received the same letter he contacted Chase Bank he was able to confirm the new policies.
According to Chase Bank, “everything is fine,” and customers need not worry.
Their response was that these changes were being implemented “to better serve our customers.” They did not explain how blocking all international wire transfers would “better serve” their customers, however.
Chase Bank specifically denied any knowledge of problems with cash on hand, or government debt or any such issue. They basically downplayed the entire issue and had no answers for why capital controls were suddenly being put into place.
This is nothing short of a capital control, which is an economic strategy designed to limit the transfer of money. It is a strategy implemented only during times of economic or financial distress, most often as a precursor to wealth seizures by the state.
Be warned, Chase bank is the first of likely many banks to begin the lock-down of the financial wealth of private individuals in the United States of America...'
'
Piece by piece, day by day, intrusion after intrusion, the end game should be coming into focus.
Take the following warning from Mike Adams seriously because ignoring it will have severe consequences for you and yours.
This is happening, folks! The capital controls begin on November 17th. The bank runs may follow soon thereafter. Chase Bank is now admitting that you cannot use your own money that you’ve deposited there.
This is clearly stemming from a government policy that is requiring banks to prevent cash from leaving the United States. Such policies are only put into place when a huge financial default event is expected.
It may not happen tomorrow, or next month, or next year. But the consumer paradigm in which we live, the relative peace and stability we experience… it will all come crashing down.
The time to insulate yourself is right here and now.
They are preparing for what they know is coming.
You should be too.' _________________ 'And he (the devil) said to him: To thee will I give all this power, and the glory of them; for to me they are delivered, and to whom I will, I give them'. Luke IV 5-7.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You can download files in this forum
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Chat
Usergroups
Calendar
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
