crise financière, manipulation sur le LIBOR

article en français
http://www.contreinfo.info/article.php3?id_article=1919

j'apprends déjà une chose:
c'est que ce sont les déclarations des banques elle mêmes sur le tx auquel elles empruntent, qui servent au calcul du LIBOR... sans aucune autre vérification ..

le reste coule amah de source .. ces gens là ne s'étant pas fait spécialement remarqués pour l'honneteté de leurs déclarations, ces derniers temps ..

l'affaire fait grand bruit. .. ci dessous, 2 articles à lire dont celui de Paul Jorion, en français

http://www.pauljorion.com/blog/?p=510

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120831164167818299.html
ou
http://www.gata.org/node/6239

Euh là c'est trop technique, je suis largué...

Ok les banques semblent avoir sous déclaré les taux d'emprunts sur l'interbancaire, si je comprends bien, de 0,3% . Mais dans quel but et quel est le lien avec les dérivés et leur baisse de 9 trillions ainsi que JPM?

Ca m'a l'air important c'est pour ça que j'aimerais comprendre!

PS: AU fait un petit rappel sur la différence euribor / libor me semblerait utile. L'un est sur le marché monétaire interbancaire en euros et l'autre en dollars c'est ça?

Citation :

Ok les banques semblent avoir sous déclaré les taux d'emprunts sur l'interbancaire, si je comprends bien, de 0,3% . Mais dans quel but et quel est le lien avec les dérivés et leur baisse de 9 trillions ainsi que JPM?

l'article de Kirby explique que les dérivés de taux sont hedgés par 3 month Eurodollar futures , un petit frère du libor ..

la baisse substancielle et inhabituelle des volumes sur ce type de dérivé ( principalement imputable à JPM) indiquerait que JPM est parfaitement au courant du fait que ces libors affichent un taux bidonné .. ne pouvant donc hedger ( cad couvrir / garantir) correctement sa position .. il a donc significativement réduit le volume de sa position sur ces dérivés de taux

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PS: AU fait un petit rappel sur la différence euribor / libor me semblerait utile. L'un est sur le marché monétaire interbancaire en euros et l'autre en dollars c'est ça?

oui c'est bien ça ..

définition sur wikipédia
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euribor
L'Euribor 3 mois sert de base au deuxième plus grand marché de taux d'intérêt de la zone euro, où se traitent des maturités pouvant aller jusqu'à 50 ans, le marché des swaps. et c'est justement le volume de ces swaps qui a diminué chez JPM

Libor Poised for Shake-Up as Credibility Is Doubted

Citation :

May 13 (Bloomberg) -- The benchmark interest rate for $62 trillion of credit derivatives and mortgages for 6 million U.S. homeowners faces its biggest shakeup in a decade as lawmakers question if banks are understating borrowing costs.
For the first time since 1998, the British Bankers' Association is considering changing the way it sets the London interbank offered rate, according to Chief Executive Officer Angela Knight, who is scheduled to appear before a parliamentary committee in London today. ``We've put Libor under review,'Knight said in an interview. While she declined to discuss specifics, the BBA will announce changes May 30, she said. The BBA, an unregulated London-based trade group, sets Libor by polling 16 banks each day on the rates they pay for loans in dollars, British pounds, euros and eight other currencies. The association is under pressure to show the rates are reliable following complaints by investors that financial institutions weren't telling the truth after the collapse of subprime mortgages nine months ago contaminated credit markets and drove up borrowing costs.
While the BBA set the one-month dollar Libor rate at 2.72 percent on April 7, the Federal Reserve said banks paid 2.82 percent for secured loans later that day. Secured loans typically yield less than unsecured debt.
``The Libor numbers that banks reported to the BBA were a lie,' said Tim Bond, head of global asset allocation at Barclays Capital in London. ``They had been all the way along. The BBA has been trying to investigate them and that's why banks have started to report the right numbers.'…

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=az3eSerjPuDA&refer=home

les grandes banques sous le coup d'une enquête pour manipulation du Libor

aux usa, mais aussi au japon et en GB

http://www.gata.org/node/9706
Big banks investigated over LIBOR rate manipulation


Submitted by cpowell on Wed, 2011-03-16 00:11. Section: Daily Dispatches
By Brooke Masters, Patrick Jenkins, and Justin Baer
Financial Times, London
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ab563882-4f08-11e0-9c25-00144feab49a.html
Regulators in the United States, Japan, and UK are investigating whether some of the biggest banks conspired to "manipulate" the benchmark interest rate used to calculate the cost of billions of dollars of debt.
The investigation centres on the panel of 16 banks that help the British Bankers' Association set the London interbank offered rate, or Libor -- the estimated cost of borrowing for banks between each other.
In particular, the investigation was looking at how Libor was set for US dollars during 2006 to 2008, immediately before and during the financial crisis, people familiar with the probes said.
The probe came to light on Tuesday when the Swiss bank UBS disclosed in its annual report that it had received subpoenas from three US agencies and an information demand from the Japanese Financial Supervisory Agency.

The bank said the regulators were focusing on "whether there were improper attempts by UBS, either acting on its own or together with others, to manipulate Libor rates at certain times."
All the panel members are believed to have received at least an informal request for information -- an earlier stage in an investigative process before a subpoena.
Witnesses had been interviewed by investigators from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Department of Justice, and the UK's Financial Services Authority, people familiar with the probe said.
The inquiry has been under way for some months. At least one bank received its initial request for information in October, people familiar with the matter said.
The BBA produces Libor rates for 10 currencies using eight to 20 contributor banks. The contributors submit the rates at which they think they could borrow on the open market. Outlying submissions are tossed out and the reported rate is the mean of the middle values.
Critics of the process for setting Libor -- which is used as a reference rate for about $350,000bn in financial products -- have long claimed it is antiquated and lacking in transparency. Commentators complained bitterly during the financial crisis that the rates were distorted because they believed weaker banks were unwilling to admit higher borrowing costs.
UBS declined to comment beyond its disclosure. The regulators declined to comment. The other banks on the panel at the time covered by the probe either declined to comment or spokesmen could not be reached.
They are: Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds, Rabobank, Royal Bank of Canada, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi, Norinchukin Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and West LB.
HBOS, which has since merged with Lloyds, was also a member.
The BBA said: "We are committed to retaining the reputation and integrity of BBA Libor, which continues to be the authoritative benchmark of the wholesale money market. It has a straightforward and unambiguous calculation method, which excludes any rates which are significant outliers. It is fully transparent -- all of the data inputted by the contributor banks is publicly available, as is our methodology."

et un procès de plus, cette fois ci pour manipulation sur le Libor ... toujours contre nos habituels suspects JPM,Citigroup, BAC, UBS and co ..


Chicago Trading Firm’s Lawsuit Claims Banks Conspired to Manipulate Libor
Jul 7, 2011 5:33 PM ET
A Chicago trading firm accused Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), UBS AG (UBSN) and Citigroup Inc. (C) of conspiring to manipulate the London interbank offered rate.
The banks drove down Libor to generate billions of dollars in profits from swaps, loans, interest rate derivatives and other financial instruments whose value depended on the rate, Eldorado Trading Group LLC said in a complaint filed July 5 in federal court in Newark, New Jersey.
The civil lawsuit is one of several filed in response to probes by the U.S. Justice Department, Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission related to whether there were improper attempts to manipulate Libor. The rate, at which banks borrow from one another in the London interbank market, is a short-term, international benchmark.
The banks "had a substantial incentive to manipulate, and in fact did manipulate, Libor downward, in order to increase the income from its interest rate derivatives and similar instruments," according to Eldorado’s complaint. "This manipulation resulted in billions of dollars in revenue."
Eldorado owned futures and options contracts based on Eurodollar deposits traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange from August 2007 to December 2009, according to the complaint. It seeks to represent similar owners of contracts traded on the Chicago exchange.
U.S. Probes
Karina Byrne, a UBS spokeswoman, said the Zurich-based bank is cooperating with the U.S. probes, and has also gotten requests for information from the Japan Financial Services Agency and the U.K. Financial Services Authority.
"We believe this suit is without merit," Danielle Romero- Apsilos, a spokeswoman for New York-based Citigroup, said in an e-mail.
Lawrence Grayson, a spokesman for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America, declined to comment. Jennifer Zuccarelli, a spokeswoman for New York-based JPMorgan, declined to comment.
The case is Eldorado Trading Group LLC v. Bank of America Corp., 11-cv-3847, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).
To contact the reporter on this story: David Voreacos in Newark, New Jersey, at dvoreacos@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net

source

Libor / l'enquête sur la manipulation des taux Libor, progresse


US widens scope of Libor probe - FT

Sept 7 | Wed Sep 7, 2011 11:22pm EDT

Sept 7 (Reuters) - U.S. investigators probing the alleged manipulation of interbank lending rates are now focusing on possible violations of a commodities law that has previously been used to send financial executives to prison, the Financial Times said, citing people familiar with the probe.

U.S. authorities are modelling their Libor probe on an earlier prosecution of three energy companies for violations of the Commodity Exchange Act, which resulted in criminal settlements and prison terms of up to 14 years, the paper said.

As per the act, it is illegal to transmit a false report that would affect the price of a commodity.

The interbank lending probe, led by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ), is examining possible collusion between traders and bank treasury departments in 2007 and 2008, the paper said.

The commission is examining whether traders placed bets on future yen and dollar rates and colluded with bank treasury departments, who help set the Libor index, to move the rates in their direction, FT said .

The CFTC and DOJ could not immediately be reached by Reuters for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

-END-

et ça ne surprendra personne, ce sont toujours les mêmes banques qui sont soupçonnées

Et il n'y pas qu'aux USA, qu'on investigue, mais aussi au Japon

Citation :

<H2>Manipulating Rates


The lenders are asked how much it would cost them to borrow from one another for 15 different periods, from overnight to one year, in currencies including dollars, euros, yen and Swiss francs. After a predetermined number of quotes are excluded, those remaining are averaged and published for each currency by the BBA before noon.

Regulators worldwide are investigating whether banks attempted to manipulate the London, Tokyo and euro interbank offered rates, known as Libor, Tibor and Euribor. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, U.S. Department of Justice, and Japan’s Financial Supervisory Agency are all involved. The probes are being led separately, with individual regulators sharing some information among themselves, one of the people said.

JPMorgan Chase & Co., Deutsche Bank AG (DBK) and HSBC Holdings Plc are among at least seven firms facing a Canadian probe into whether they participated in a conspiracy to manipulate prices on interest-rate derivatives. The nation’s Competition Bureau is investigating the firms’ conduct between 2007 and 2010, according to documents it filed with the Ontario Superior Court in May.

</H2>




http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-15/libor-investigation-said-to-expose-collusion-lack-of-internal-controls.html

le département de la justice mène à présent une enquête criminelle, sur la manipulation du Libor



http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/28/us-libor-probe-idUSTRE81R1ZG20120228

très interessant article de Jeff Nielson



la fraude sur le Libor signale le commencement de la fin, pour les banksters

http://etfdailynews.com/2012/03/07/libor-fraud-signals-beginning-of-the-end-for-banksters-gld-slv/

merci à Nofear, je reproduis l'info ici



com d'hab, on négocie une amende ... et roule ma poule

Citation :

Barclays Found To Engage In Massive Libor Manipulation, Gets Wrist-slapped By Coopted Regulators

We can finally close the case on the massive Libor manipulation issue
that we first brough to the world's attention back in January 2009 when
we penned: "This Makes No Sense: Libor By Bank."
As of minutes ago, Barclays is the first bank to admit it has engaged
in gross manipulation of the key benchmark rate that sets the cost of
capital for $350 trillion in interest-rate sensitive products.
As the CFTC notes, as it produly announces an epic wristslap of $200
million for Barclays Bank: "The Order finds that Barclays attempted to
manipulate and made false reports concerning two global benchmark
interest rates, LIBOR and Euribor, on numerous occasions and sometimes on a daily basis over a four-year period, commencing as early as 2005."
Surely this massive fine will teach them to never do it again, until
tomorrow at least, when the British Banker Association once again finds 3
month USD libor to be... unchanged. In other news, who would have
thought that the fringe "conspiracy" brigade was right all along once
again.

From the CFTC:

CFTC Orders Barclays to pay $200 Million Penalty for
Attempted Manipulation of and False Reporting concerning LIBOR and
Euribor Benchmark Interest Rates


The Order finds that Barclays attempted to manipulate
interest rates and made related false reports to benefit its derivatives
trading positions


The Order also finds that Barclays made false LIBOR reports
at the direction of members of senior management to protect its
reputation during the global financial crisis

Washington, DC – The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) issued an Order today filing and settling charges against Barclays PLC, Barclays Bank PLC (Barclays Bank) and Barclays Capital Inc. (Barclays Capital) (collectively Barclays or the Bank). The
Order finds that Barclays attempted to manipulate and made false
reports concerning two global benchmark interest rates, LIBOR and
Euribor, on numerous occasions and sometimes on a daily basis over a
four-year period, commencing as early as 2005.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/barclays-found-engage-massive-libor-manipulation-gets-wrist-slapped-coopted-regulators

Citation :

zerohedge
‏@zerohedge




Banks admit to manipulating a $350 trillion market. Good thing the S&P and gold are priced fairly.

Citation :

zerohedge
‏@zerohedge


Banks admit to manipulating a $350 trillion market. Good thing the S&P and gold are priced fairly.

Lol Nofear



350 trillions de $ : c'est une énorme claque à ceux qui prétendent qu'on ne peut pas manipuler telm ou tel marché, parcequ'il serait trop gros !

350 trillions de vent , de spéculation sur des produits dérivés électroniques sans aucun support risque dans du shadow banking, concentrés dans 4 banques etc.

difficile de faire plus manipulable à moins de mettre 1 seul proprio genre un antichrist .

Citation :

350 trillions de vent ...concentrés dans 4 banques etc.

tout est dit ===> super concentration et marché papier

c'est ça la clef et quelle que soit la taille du marché ...

évidemment et pour l'argent qui est un marché étroit et dont la short position est super concentrée ... ça donne encore plus ...

bon ... c'est du baratin, et en plus, le Labor n'est plus au pouvoir now ..

Cameron se foule pas avec

Citation :

David Cameron said the “whole management team” at Barclays “have got some serious questions to answer” in the wake of the scandal.

mais ça fait du boucan, quand même ,

sur cette scandaleuse affaire ...



ah au fait, j'avais oublié de le rappeler ... Barclays est à l'origine de la création de l'ETF argent SLV, désormais vendu à blackrock ( de mémoire )



Some pretty big news on the big league banking front. First, the latest on Barclays:

Bill
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/28/barclays-
should-face-criminal-investigation-says-ed-miliband_n_1633285.html?utm_hp_ref=uk&utm_hp_ref=uk

Barclays Should Face 'Criminal Investigation', Says Ed Miliband

It seems like the politicians are finally getting their act together to investigate the market manipulations of Libor by the Banks(ters).

and in this public vote (below) on whether Diamond should resign, 87% say yes at the time of writing, so the public are definitely finally getting fed up with the swaggering Banksters.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/28/bob-diamond-under-pressure-barcla
ys-libor-scandal_n_1633245.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

The real question remains however as to where this will lead to down the road.

Either the investigations will find their way through from Libor to the massive manipulation of the Gold and Silver markets, or it will provide a convenient red herring for the MSM by refocusing the attack on the Libor manipulation while carefully avoiding and covering up any mention of the PMs.

We will follow the unfolding saga with great interest.
Best
Alan





www.lemetropolecafe.com

Citation :

The scandal now threatens to engulf taxpayer-funded Lloyds and RBS, which according to court documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph have also been accused of routinely distorting basic financial data used to set interest rates.

...

Executives at HSBC are also being investigated alongside London-based financial firms for their role in the scandal, which is estimated to have cost consumers, investors and businesses £30billion.

d'autres banques dont HSBC sont également scrutées...



http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/9363445/RBS-and-Lloyds-drawn-into-rate-rigging-scandal.html

Citation :

zerohedge
‏@zerohedge




Market talk JPM to be brought into Libor-fixing investigation via RanSquawk

On dirait qu'ils couchent tous dans le même plumard non ?

On retrouve toujours les mêmes dans les sales coups MALHONNETES ...

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On dirait qu'ils couchent tous dans le même plumard non ?

On retrouve toujours les mêmes dans les sales coups MALHONNETES ...

bawi, pourquoi crois-tu que Marie et moi les appelons "nos usual suspects"?

on croit réver ...mais non ... cameron nous promet ( ça coute pas cher ) qu'il va tout faire pour lutter contre les abus de "la city" ...



c'est vraiment pas de bol, continue t'il en évoquant à propos des graves "dysfonctionnements" des comptes bancaires RBS et nakwest ... un bug informatique !



un bug informatique qui dure 8 jours ?

vraiment, ils osent TOUT





Les banquiers qui ont commis des délits financiers doivent en répondre devant des tribunaux, a estimé samedi le ministre britannique de la Justice Ken Clarke, alors qu'une nouvelle série de scandales secouent la City.

"Des investigations doivent bien sûr encore être menées, mais une fois que ces enquêtes seront terminées, si des délits ont été commis, leurs auteurs devront être traduits en justice", a-t-il expliqué sur la BBC, jugeant "choquants" les comportements révélés par ces affaires.

"Nous ne traitons pas comme il le convient les délits financiers au plan judiciaire dans ce pays", a-t-il ajouté. "Je pense qu'il est plus facile de s'en tirer quand on commet un délit financier que pratiquement n'importe quel autre délit".

M. Clarke a aussi prôné un meilleur encadrement du secteur financier, soulignant que le gouvernement devrait résister aux pressions de la City.

"Il faut réfléchir à des règles plus contraignantes, comme nous avons prévu de le faire", a-t-il expliqué. "Nous devrons résister aux puissants lobbies qui vont nous dire que nous allons trop loin, que cela va nuire à la compétitivité (de la City) et autres choses du même acabit".

La banque britannique Barclays a écopé mercredi d'amendes record pour avoir tenté de manipuler des taux d'intérêt de référence définissant le prix auquel les banques se prêtent de l'argent, mais aussi indirectement ceux des crédits aux ménages et aux entreprises.

Nombreux sont ceux qui réclament la démission de son patron, Bob Diamond, symbole de tous les excès de la City avec ses bonus faramineux et ses déclarations fracassantes.

L'autorité des marchés financiers a en outre révélé vendredi des "manquements graves" de la part des quatre grandes banques du pays: Barclays encore, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds et HSBC. L'affaire porte sur la commercialisation de produits financiers plus ou moins complexes à des PME.

RBS a aussi cette semaine essuyé les foudres de ses clients, après un bug informatique qui a empêché pendant plusieurs jours des millions de personnes de retirer de l'argent ou de faire des virements.

"Quelque chose est vraiment allé de travers dans le secteur bancaire britannique, et nous avons besoin de le remettre en ordre", a résumé vendredi le gouverneur de la banque d'Angleterre Mervyn King.

Le Premier ministre David Cameron a aussi réclamé des enquêtes approfondies sur les récents scandales, pour que les responsables rendent des comptes.



source

après avoir refusé de démissionner, il finit par céder



Barclays : le scandale du Libor coûte sa place au directeur Bob Diamond



Le scandale des manipulations du taux Libor par la banque britannique Barclays a fini par coûter sa place mardi à son directeur général Bob Diamond, qui était devenu le symbole honni des dérives de la City.

"La pression extérieure sur Barclays a atteint un niveau qui risquait de porter atteinte à l'entreprise et je ne pouvais pas laisser cela arriver", a déclaré le dirigeant américain dans un communiqué pour expliquer son départ surprise avec effet immédiat.

"Je suis très déçu parce que les événements de la semaine dernière donnent une image de Barclays et de ses employés qui ne pourrait pas être plus éloignée de la réalité", a ajouté M. Diamond.



Barclays avait annoncé mercredi dernier qu'elle allait payer au total l'équivalent de 290 millions de livres --soit environ 360 millions d'euros-- pour mettre fin aux enquêtes des régulateurs britannique et américain dans cette affaire.

Les taux interbancaires définissent le prix auquel les banques se prêtent de l'argent, mais aussi indirectement celui des crédits aux ménages et aux entreprises.

Le président du conseil d'administration de Barclays, Marcus Agius, avait déjà annoncé sa démission lundi pour tenter d'apaiser le scandale, qui enflammait l'opinion et la classe politique britanniques.

Mais M. Agius reste président pour l'instant et a désormais pour mission de trouver un nouveau directeur général et d'assurer l'intérim en attendant, a précisé Barclays mardi.

Le gouvernement a salué le changement de direction à la tête de la banque privée. "C'est la bonne décision pour Barclays et pour le pays", a commenté le ministre des Finances George Osborne.

"J'espère que c'est le premier pas vers une culture de la responsabilité dans le secteur bancaire britannique", a-t-il ajouté sur la radio BBC.

M. Diamond, qui est convoqué mercredi devant des parlementaires britanniques pour s'expliquer, était sous une pression croissante et le chef de l'opposition travailliste Ed Miliband avait même clairement appelé à son départ.

Après avoir rejoint Barclays en 1996, Bob Diamond était devenu le responsable de son activité de banque d'investissement à l'époque des manipulations, ce qui rendait sa position inconfortable.



L'Américain, surnommé "le banquier aux 100 millions de livres" pour ses rémunérations faramineuses, était devenu l'incarnation des excès et de l'arrogance de la finance dans un pays par ailleurs confronté à la récession et au chômage.

Le scandale n'est cependant pas clos pour autant, alors que des enquêtes ont été ouvertes sur plusieurs continents pour des tentatives de manipulation des taux britannique Libor et européen Euribor. D'autres banques, comme la Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), sont incriminées dans cette affaire.

En plus du volet réglementaire, les autorités britanniques envisagent également des poursuites pénales contre les banquiers concernés. Par ailleurs, le Premier ministre David Cameron a annoncé lundi le lancement d'une commission d'enquête parlementaire, chargée de faire la lumière sur cette affaire.

"Cette histoire va clairement avoir d'autres répercussions à travers l'ensemble du secteur mais c'est déjà un limogeage significatif à ce stade et cela laisse ouvert le problème de la succession à la tête de la banque", a commenté Mike McCudden, responsable des produits dérivés chez Interactive Investor.

A la Bourse de Londres, l'annonce du départ de M. Diamond permettait toutefois mardi matin à l'action Barclays de regagner un peu du terrain perdu, prenant 1,67% à 171,2 pence vers 08H30 GMT.



source

sauf que les peggy la cochone sont les banques ...

Citation :

European and American Governments Encourage Bank Manipulation and Fraud to Cover Up Insolvency





Posted on July 2, 2012 by WashingtonsBlog



Governments On Both Sides of the Atlantic Try to Put Lipstick on a Pig


We noted yesterday that the big banks have criminally conspired since 2005 to rig $800 trillion dollar Libor-based market.

Barclay’s chairman says that the Bank of England gave explicit approval for the manipulation.

A former Barclay’s executive – who was close to the Libor-setting manipulation – told
the Daily Mail that Barclay’s manipulated Libor to make the bank look
healthier than it really was, and , and the cover-up led to a slow
policy response which prolonged the financial crisis.

This appears to be very similar to what happened in America. As I noted last year:

The Tarp Inspector General has said that [then-Secretary of the Treasury Hank] Paulson misrepresented the big banks’ health in the run-up to passage of TARP. This is no small matter, as the American public would have not been very excited about giving money to insolvent institutions.


As we reported last year:

[All of the big banks were] insolvent in the 1980s, but the government made a concerted decision to cover that up.

Financial writers such as Mish and Reggie Middleton pointed out in late 2007 and early 2008 that B of A was again insolvent.

Nouriel Roubini noted in January 2009 that the entire U.S. banking system is “bankrupt” and “effectively insolvent”:

“I’ve found that credit losses could peak at a level of
$3.6 trillion for U.S. institutions, half of them by banks and broker
dealers,” Roubini said at a conference in Dubai today. “If that’s true,
it means the U.S. banking system is effectively insolvent because it starts with a capital of $1.4 trillion.”

***

“The problems of Citi, Bank of America and others suggest the system is bankrupt,” Roubini said. “In Europe, it’s the same thing.”

Indeed, the American government’s zero interest rate policy is very
much like the British Libor manipulation scandal … it’s nothing but an attempt to breathe life back into the insolvent banks, at the expense of the taxpayer. And see this.

And the “financial reform” laws passed in the wake of the crisis have, in some ways, actually weakened regulations of the financial markets, allowed the big banks to get a lot bigger, and have intentionally allowed fraudulent accounting (and see this).

Likewise, the “stress tests” in both Europe and America have been a total scam … a naked attempt to put lipstick on a pig to cover up the fact that the big banks are insolvent.

http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/07/european-and-american-governments.html