Banking's Past, Present, and Future
The sub-prime crisis and the ensuing economic slowdown have led many to question some widely held economic tenets, particularly the belief that unfettered markets inevitably lead to the best of all possible outcomes. Writing in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal, University of Chicago economics professor and Nobel laureate Gary Becker whines about this assault on the … Read more
Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, WSJ op-ed board member Stephen Moore offers a variety of dubious–and at least one outrageous–opinion on the economy and economic policy. (1) The economy would be in better shape today in the absence of the economic stimulus. No, it wouldn’t. Even fellow WSJ contributor Ed Lazear believes that the … Read more
Writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, John Taylor argues that “…the best way to understand the problems confronting the American economy is to go back to the basic principles upon which the country was founded—economic freedom and political freedom.” Taylor’s argument is based on assertion, rather than fact. For example, he is a little vague … Read more
The Interim Report of the UK Independent Commission on Banking was released yesterday. In his opening remarks, Commission’s chairman Sir John Vickers enunciated three key points. First, banks need to hold more capital. According the Commission, the Basel III proposal of 7%–possibly more for especially large and important banks–is a step in the right direction. … Read more
I am devastated. Writing in the Financial Times today, Alan Greenspan, argues that the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act will have–indeed is already having–unintended consequences. He cites five specific cases. 1) Making credit ratings agencies legally liable for their opinions about risk made them unwilling to give Ford Motor Credit a rating … Read more
It looks the banking news from Britain will continue to be interesting for a while. The Treasury and Bank of England Governor Mervyn King are lining up in support of the as-yet unreleased report of the UK Independent Commission on banking headed by Sir John Vickers. The commission is expected to recommend that UK financial … Read more
The Financial Times reports that Oswald Grübel, chief of the Swiss bank UBS, “…has attacked the UK government for its public neglect of the City of London, warning that tougher regulations will see Britain and the rest of Europe cede investment banking business to Asia and the US.” Yes, by all means, let’s not overdo … Read more
…and his name is Andrea Enria. The former Bank of Italy official has taken over as chairman of the brand new chairman of the European Banking Authority. The Financial Times reports that Enria said that the financial crisis had highlighted the weakness of consensual efforts to co-ordinate banking regulation in Europe and that the EBA … Read more
The Financial Times reports that a study conducted by Bank of England researchers finds that the current level of risk-weighted capital held by banks (about 7 percent) is woefully inadequate to protect against future financial crises. Calibrating their model with data from 1821-2001, the authors find that an astounding 53 percent capital to risk-weighted assets … Read more
Goldman Sachs second-in-command Gary Cohn warned those assembled at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that the drive to impose more regulation on banks could cause the next crisis by pushing risky activities towards hedge funds and other lightly supervised entities. According to the Financial Times, Cohn said: “In the next few years, the … Read more