Germany's 'desperate' short ban triggers capital flight to Switzerland

B

Black Swan

Second leg of this global downturn is now a baked in certainty IMHO...if the MM is letting the moggy out of the bag we may have reached a stage were Swissys ain't safe either...certainly short term it'll continue to be the no brainer blast it's been for the past few years, but thereafter....?

Anyhow, I know a few of you don't like/think much of AEP, personally I reckon him and Edmund Conway have been consistently good on their analysis and predictions, in short you could do a lot worse than pay attention to their articles when you have a bit of spare MM time...The comments section are often worth scanning on their articles too...some clued up guys and gals hang out on there..

" One statistic from the Bank of Internal Settlement chilled me. It was a ratio of 10:1 when contracted financial obligations were compared to global gdp. That ratio has most likely risen since then. New currencies and the elimination of old debts are the standard. Anything else is reaction."

David W. Lincoln
on May 19, 2010
at 10:11 PM

A year ago, Germany's financial regulator BaFin warned that the toxic debts of the country's banks would blow up "like a grenade" once hidden losses from the credit crisis caught up with them.

An internal memo at the time showed that BaFin feared write-offs might top €800bn (£688bn), twice the reserves of Germany's financial institutions. Nobody paid much attention. But the regulator's shock move on Tuesday night to stop short trading on banks, insurers, eurozone bonds – as well as a ban credit default swaps (CDS) on sovereign debt – has left markets wondering whether the slow fuse on Germany's banking system has finally detonated.

BaFin spoke of "extraordinary volatility" and said CDS moves were jeopardising "the stability of the financial system as a whole". It is unsettling that the BaFin should opt for such drastic measures a week after EU leaders thought they had overawed markets with a €750bn rescue package and direct purchases of Greek, Portuguese and Spanish debt by the European Central Bank. BaFin's heavy-handed move seems to proclaim that the rescue has failed.

"The market is left asking what skeletons are lurking in the cupboard," said Marc Ostwald from Monument Securities. The short ban follows a report by RBC Capital Markets that circulated widely in the City accusing German banks of failing to come clean on 75pc of their €45bn exposure to Greek debt.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...n-triggers-capital-flight-to-Switzerland.html
 
I seem to remember that London, also, had a ban on short selling the banks. I was short of Lloyds well before that ban came in. Personally, I think that if Merkel does not take care of German interests, it won't be long before all of us go down the chute.

My word, what a load of no-hopers there are running Europe!( Merkel excluded).
 
I prefer ft.com. You don't have the same level of political bias, e.g.

Merkel warns markets over ‘honest’ regulation

What worries me about Merkl and Schäuble is their plan for a financial transactions tax. Fortunately I don't think the US would even consider it.

This Tobin tax is a red herring and *they* know it, how the fook would they charge Goldman Sachs on each transaction if they only stay in the trade for an average 11 seconds....:LOL: Tobin tax may have worked in back in the day; and I'm talking Jesse Livermore, but it's a complete non starter...Tim Geithner has said it ain't gonna happen, endex...
 
This Tobin tax is a red herring and *they* know it, how the fook would they charge Goldman Sachs on each transaction if they only stay in the trade for an average 11 seconds....:LOL: Tobin tax may have worked in back in the day; and I'm talking Jesse Livermore, but it's a complete non starter...Tim Geithner has said it ain't gonna happen, endex...

Nobody said it had to0 be paid at the time of the trade. They pay CT based on quarterly calculations under IFRS, ditto for VAT/sales tax where appropriate so why not something ina similar vein for transactions.
 
Nobody said it had to0 be paid at the time of the trade. They pay CT based on quarterly calculations under IFRS, ditto for VAT/sales tax where appropriate so why not something ina similar vein for transactions.

I'm pointing out the massive volume of trades that can happen, forex is a $3 trillion t/o business a day, htf could they get agreement to tax the 1 billion + transactions per day, who would tax it, govern it, collect... why...? Thin edge of wedge if the global markets go down that route...If it happens we're headed for one world currency...
 
Transactions tax imposed by IMF on financial institutions with group cap or assets over $X (pension funds excluded/rebated) to be valued in USD and collected by government of country in which company/subsidiary is registered. Money into pot a big pot to recoup expenses of socialist experimentaion and/or redistributed to ease and future liquidity problems.
Will probably force banks to reassess their model which cant be a bad thing can it?

As for the world currency thing... I'm struggling to understand why you don't think we're heading that way anyway lol.
 
Will probably force banks to reassess their model which cant be a bad thing can it?

Of course it can be a bad thing. It would be a tax on all financial transactions presumably. The problem is that most financial transactions are totally benign and even beneficial and should be encouraged, not taxed.

If you don't think subprime mortgages and collateralized debt obligations and lending to third world dictators and stocking up on Russian bonds and the savings and loans scandal and Long Term Capital Management were good ideas, then look at how that can be controlled, but just taxing the financial sector as a whole?
 
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