The entries below are memorable because they are either funny, thought-provoking,
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| "scratch-and-dent loans"
Mortgage loans that have defects, features which banks used to extract greater discounts on mortgage pools they bought from originators and then securitised. See News 24 July for article.
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“It’s important to note that not all dealers are shysters,”
Quote in NY Times 16 July 2010 about US autodealers who use unethical methods to overcharge retail car buyers, and who have escaped recent regulatory overhaul. See News 16 July for article. |
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"this is not an IPO, it's a rescue rights issue" "this is only for investors who wish to create capital gains tax losses" "it seems there is a new rule in the City - the greater the number of investment bankers on the ticket, the worse the deal"
Quotes in Weekend FT 11 July by potential investor(s) about the proposed Ocado IPO, which they think is very over-valued (saying £500-600m is a more realistic valuation rather than the £800m-1.2bn publicised). |
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"...corporate borrowers in emerging markets are underrated because they still suffer a discount because they are based in emerging markets"
Quote in FT 9 July 2010 by a fund manager . See News for more. |
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"...today the bond market is almost at ground zero in terms of information and regulation".
Quote in FT 12 July by French regulator, Jouyet, about the state of the european bond market. See News for more. |
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"If they know the company is desperate they will give them bad terms".
Quote in FT 12 July 2010 about Taylor Wimpey's intention to renegotiate greater flexibility in its current debt agreements. Crucially it is trying this when it is not desperate for its banks to comply as it can go to the bond markets for funds instead if the banks say no.. |
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"This is not a flight to quality, but a flight from risk"
Quote in FT 15 Jun 2010 by an analyst about the purchase of Gilts by investors fleeing the eurozone. Gilt yields fell from 4.27% to 3.50% consequently. |
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“They structured like mad and travelled the world and worked their tails off to make some lemonade from some big old lemons.”
Quote by G Sachs' head of mortgage business reported in the Times 15 Jun 2010. The implication might be G Sachs was making money (lemonade) from gullible investors buying their bad mortgages (lemons) in CDOs. Link to article |
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| "People were excessively focused on the micro and they missed the macro.”
Quote in IDD 18 Jun 2010 about failure of many to miss the causal driver of the credit crisis by being too focussed. Link to article |
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“They know other banks are sick, but they don’t know which ones.”
Quote in NY Times 4 Jun 2010 about European banks not knowing who, among themselves, are loaded with risky sovereign and corporate debt. Link to article |
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“It was the rating agency’s fault.”
Quote in NY Times 4 June 2010 of fund managers who will blame the agencies if their funds lose value rather than blaming themselves for not doing their homework. Article says managers want to retain agencies rather than having to conduct due diligence themselves. Link to article |
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“We need to grow up [and start to pay our taxes]” Greek tax payment: 'pay a third of what you owe to the government, a third to the collector and a third remains in your pocket.'
Quote 1 May 2010 in NY Times illustrating many Greeks' corruptness. Link to article |
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| "...our Greece moment... is coming."
NY Times report referring to the moment when the US realises it has been living beyond its means, and might trigger a Greek-type economic crisis. Link to article |
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| "to me the biggest lesson I learned out of all the crisis was the lack of focus by so many market participants and by regulators on the importance of liquidity,”
Quote in NY Times 6 May 2010 by former US Treasury secretary, Paulson, highlighting the significance of liquidity risk. Link to article |
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“No one had any idea how many credit-default swap contracts were out there on General Motors bonds.”
Quote in NY Times 6 May 2010 by former US Treasury secretary, Paulson, highlighting the opaqueness of the OTC derivatives market. Link to article |
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“Most of the toothpaste was out of the tube and there really wasn’t the proper regulator apparatus to deal with it.”
Quote in NY Times 6 May 2010 by former US Treasury secretary, Paulson. Not surewhat he is on about: perhaps the risks that led to the financial crisis. Link to article |
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| "a “big, fat goose walking down the lane, about to get eaten alive”.
Quote in Times 6 May 2010 by former Bear Stearns CEO on how Bear Stearns appeared to hedge funds (wolves) who he claimed had been spreading rumours to bring it down.
Link to article |
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| "Greece is paying for its past sins of easy credit and false statistics"
Quote in NY Times 2 May 2010 on the IMF & EU €110bn bailout's terms and impact.
Link to article |
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| "a product of pure intellectual masturbation, the type of thing which you invent telling yourself: 'well, what if we created a 'thing', which has no purpose, which is absolutely conceptual and highly theoretical and which nobody knows the price of?"
G Sachs employee Tourre's description, in Evening Standard on 29 Apr 2010, of the derivative he created that lost investors $1bn and landed him and G Sachs in a senate committee hearing. Link to article |
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“They have to explain how they do things, but that sometimes allowed people to game it.”
A quote in NY Times 24 Apr 10 about the risk of rating agencies being transparent with their models and bankers exploiting such transparency for their own ends. Link to article |
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“They had their fun.”
Quote in NY Times 29 Apr 10 by a German bailout negotiator about Greeks' poor financial management and who are now suffering andwill continue to suffer. Link to article |
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"...
It could be structured by cows and we would rate it"
“Let’s hope we are all wealthy and retired by the time this house of card falters.”
From internal emails at S&P, quoted in NY Times 22 Apr 10, in 2006-07, leading upto the mortgage crisis. See News 22 Apr 2010. |
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'Give us £500K and then we'll loan you £500k'
Article in the Times 29 March 2009 saying a bank wanted a deposit of £500k from a business that had asked it for a £500K loan! Link to article |
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"Man owed £1,000 tax rebate fined £1,400 [by HMRC] for getting sums wrong"
Report in Times, 14 Apr 2010, and it's true!. |
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“nobody slips that stuff by us,”
Quote in NY Times about US govt staff who jump over the fence and become lobbyists, and who might have sneakily written legislation to suit their new paymasters (banks etc). Link to article |
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"Hard-working Americans will not be their ATMs"
Quote in NY Times 13 Apr 2010 by US unions refusing to pay fat cat bankers' salaries. It also highlights the rise in spending by banks lobbying government. Link to article |
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| "...they can’t prevent the next crisis if they don’t understand all these incestuous relationships"
Quote in NY Times 12 Apr 2010 about banks' (citing Lehman) off BS deals with entities they control but need not report to regulators (the shadow banking system). Link to article |
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“...deceitful, but legal ... Unfortunately, this is not surprising."
Quote in Times 10 April 2010 about US banks window dressing their reported figures. See News. |
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| "Plan B is to hope that Plan A works."
Quote in Times 2 Apr 2010 on Japan's attempt to end price deflation. Link to article |
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| "...the privatization of profit and socialization of risk"
Quote in the NY Times 22 Mar 2010 about banks keeping profits for themselves but being bailed out by the taxpayer in a crisis. Link to article |
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| "...the let’s-spend-like-there-is-no-tomorrow Greeks"
Quote in the Times 29 Mar 2010 referring to the Greeks' excessive budget deficit that has put the EU in a tail-spin. Link to article |
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“That reeks of an auditor who, rather than being really truly independent, is beholden to management,”
Quote in NY Times 12 Mar 2010 about E&Y approving Lehman's use an accounting practice to enhance its balance sheet, though it seems to contravene GAAP. Link to article |
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| "They can no longer use their house as an ATM machine"
Quote in Times 5 Feb 2010 by president of R3 about individuals gorging themselves on easy credit, who are now in insolvency or bankruptcy. Link to article |
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"They're going to let him spin himself into the ground and will sit back and watch the show"
Anon. quote in FT 5 Feb 2010 about Hands' debt and covenant problems at EMI, referring to the banks (esp. Citi) watching on the sidelines as he loses control of EMI, ready to pounce. |
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The price of opacity
"The lack of transparency is the one thing everyone complains about, but it's the one thing people involved in the markets don't want to change because they are making so much money out of it." Quote in FT 1/2/10 by Paul killik, stockbrokers Killick & Co, on the obstacles to a retail bond market in the UK. |
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| Credit Suisse is an “international banking predator.”
Quote in a claim against Credit Suisse, which stands accused of a 'loan to own' fraud on a property development. See News 4 Jan 2010 for article. |
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“When you buy protection against an event that you have a hand in causing, you are buying fire insurance on someone else’s house and then committing arson.”
Quote in NY Times 23 Dec 2009 re: G Sachs and other banks who shorted MBS they sold. Read article in News 23 Dec 2009 |
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“I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat-cat bankers,”
Obama quoted in NY Times 14 Dec 09 referring to Wall St bankers |
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| "We cannot control ourselves. You have to step in and control the Street.”
Quote in Times 19 Nov 2009 by head of Morgan Stanley to US regulator on being out-bid by another bank on a leveraged deal. Link to article |
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“discovering the overdrive switch on a 15-year-old car”.
Quote in Times 13 Nov 2009 by Kennedy of collapsed property company, Kenmore, that owes £700m to HBOS, on what it feels like to have a friendly banker to bankroll your property deals. Kennedy was close to Cummings of HBOS- the person blamed for flushing away billions of the bank's money on property deals. Link to article |
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| "...compensation for bank employees has become unmoored from the banks’ financial performance"
Quote in Times 1 Nov 2009. It also noted AIG, Merrill, and Citi posted losses of $51 yet paid bonuses of $12, last year, and one guy got a salary of $100m at Citi. Link to article |
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| "The idea that the government is not going to let these banks fail, which was implicit a year ago, its now explicit.”
Quote in NY Times 24 Oct 2009 by Barofsky of US Treasury, saying the govt's merging of failed banks makes them even bigger than before so they definitely cannot now be allowed to fail. This exacerbates moral hazard rather than reduce it. Link to article |
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“It is like the tobacco industry asking for compensation for lost revenues... to address the health risks of smoking,”
Quote in NY Times 13 Oct 2009 about the Saudis demanding payment for lost oil revenues from attempts to combat global warming. Link to article |
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“You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste.."
Quote in New York Times, 6 Nov 2008 by Emanuel, about the financial crisis. |
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| "..you have a choice between a doughnut and a cereal"
Quote in New York Times 4 Sep 2009 by a supporter of healthy food labels that actually promote certain brands, who pay more for more labels their brands receive. Clear example of corporate sleaze buying favours from unethical food scientists. Link to article |
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“This burden may impinge on the efficiency of the markets and may make dealers less willing to enter into trades with retail customers,”
Quote in New York Times, 29 Aug 2009, by Wall St lobbying firm, SIFMA, opposing (no surprise) the new requirement for greater transparency from brokers. Link to article |
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| "I sincerely believe that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies"
Quote by former US president, Thomas Jefferson in 1816 that rings true of banks today.
Link to article: |
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"don’t trade, don’t touch the machines... We are the bosses now’"
Quote in the Times 30 Aug 2009 by Lehman's administrators to the bank's staff. See 30 Aug 2009 News for article. |
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| "stability eventually will be destabilizing"
Quote in New York Times 20 Aug 2009 by Minsky, illustrating the misjudgement of US bankers and regulators that led to multiple bank failures. See 20 Aug 2009 News for article. |
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"We took the view that we were running the business for the banks rather than for the shareholders"
Quote in FT 1 Jul 2009 by chairman of retailer, Lookers, on its debt refinancing woes. See 1 Jul 2009 News for article. |
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| "It really is a case of the pot calling the kettle black"
Quote in Times 26 Mar 2009 by the CEO of Kent Council which lost millions and was accused of negligence by the Audit Commission, yet the Commission had invested £10m with Icelandic Banks, and admitted it needed a review of its processes. See 26 Mar 2009 News for article. |
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"In the last twelve months we have gone from a record profit to a record loss"
Quote by airline, BA, chairman in Times 22 May 2009. See news for article. |
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"This is a monumental, career-ending debacle of the first order"
Analyst's view in the Times 29 Jan 2008 of the loss of over £400m incurred by brewer, M&B, on hedges that went sour and were partially closed out. See News 21 May 2009 for articles |
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“[The problem] is not the house you reside in, it’s the people in it,”
Quote in Times 3 May 2009 by AIM company CEO suggesting criticism should be aimed at AIM company directors not at AIM itself. See News 3 May 2009 for article. |
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"fairweather friends"
Quote in the Times 21 April 2009 by a company CEO, referring to the behaviour of trade credit insurers, who appear to withdraw cover to suppliers to a distressed company (who then insist on cash payment on delivery) at a time when it needs its suppliers' trade credit the most.
Link to article |
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“The most common problem we see is when a business is running out of cash or simply cannot meet its forecasts,”
Quote in the Times 19 April 2009 by Derek Sach, global head of restructuring at RBS, speaking of signals that his corporate customers are heading for a fall. Link to article |
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“We knew we had pushed it up to levels that couldn’t possibly be sustained into the medium and long term.”
Quote in the Times 19 April 2009, of former BoE governor, Eddie George, speaking of encouraging consumer spending to stave off inflation, but which then contributed to inflated house prises and consumer debt and stoked the subsequent credit crisis in 2007. |
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| "...unacceptable and very troubling...
Quote by the IWG in Investment News on 3 Apr 09, on the FASB's rushed changes to market value accounting of assets, in response to pressure from lobbying groups including banks. Link to article |
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| "...they were blinded by the fees they were earning, did not engage in meaningful due diligence and turned a blind eye to any fact that would have burst their lucrative bubble."
Quote in Times 01 April 2009 by US securities regulator on a hedge fund that grew rich off the Madhoff funds it invested investors' funds in. See News 01 April for article link |
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"It's nothing major. It's just a slight hiccup,"
Quote in Times 01 April 2009 by the owner of Lupus on choosing not to pay its loan interest. Its shares fell 30%. See News 01 April for article link. |
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“At some point it got a little bit out of control...”
Quote in the Times 16 Mar 2009 by former UK CEO of Bauger which collapsed under £1bn of debt. Link to article |
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| "If they had more guts, many of these investors would be doing something else for a living."
Quote in the Times 16 Mar 2009 about fund managers, many of whom failed to curb reckless bankers, incl. RBS's ill-fated take over of ABN AMRO. |
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| "down 99 per cent in a year — Cattles is already in the stock market’s slaughterhouse. Today’s 2.1p is the equivalent of getting back the hooves and a scrap of hide from a once-healthy carcass"
Quote in the Times 10 March 09 of the state of consumer sub-prime lender,Cattles', share price. See News 10 March for details. |
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It's not a run on the banks, it's the banks running on their borrowers"
Quote in the FT 3 Mar 2009 by an analyst, on the dearth of funds available to J-REITS (Japanese real estate funds), which are trading at an avg discount to NAV of 40%. |
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"In recent years, mugging someone out of their savings or their pension would probably earn you a yacht.”
Quote by a former Director of Public Prosecution in the Times 23 Feb 2009, on the damaging activities of bankers and the weak justice system. Link to article |
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| "We were told if we didn't gear up we would be taken over by private equity. It was absolutely bonkers"
Quote in the Times 20 Feb 2009, of FD of Ladbrokes of pressure on him by bankers in 2007 to take on more debt (doubling its ratio of debt:EBITDA from 3.5x to 7x). Those same bankers are now saying the company has too much debt!! Link to article |
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"The typical bank board resembles a retirement home for the great and the good...If such a selection...was ever good enough, it is not now"
Quote of City Minister, Myners, in 2001, reproduced in FT 3 Feb 2009, in relation to poor corporate governance by NEDs. |
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“I don't want to lend to men, they take unnecessary risks, they get drunk and they don't give back the money. If I lend to women they use it sensibly and they pay it back.”
Quote in the Times 7 Feb 2009, of
Katrin Olafsdottir, a member of the board of New Glitnir bank, following the collapse of the Icelandic male-dominated government and banks. She was praising the microfinance principle of lending to women. |
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"The person who controls the debt controls the company"
Quote in FT 5 Feb 2009 by the Icelandic investment group's (Baugur) CEO, Jon Johannesson following his loss of control of his company to its lender Landsbanki. The company's equity is worthless so ownership and control has passed to the bank. See News 5 Feb 2009 for details. |
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The funnier alternative meaning of financial jargon |
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“It’s like a petri dish for the bacteria of fraud,”
Quote in Times 1 Feb 2009 of the
decade of lax regulation, booming markets and changes in investment attitudes that created the perfect environment for financial scams. Link to article |
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"We do not think Venezuela will default, but we can't rule out Argentina doing something stupid,"
Quote on Marketwatch.com by an analyst on the possibility of neighbouring countries copying Ecuador's decision to default on its debt. Link to article |
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"an opaque bunch of spivs gambling with public money"
Quote by MP John Thurso, in the FT 28 Jan 2008, speaking of hedge fund managers, at the Commons Treasury Select Committee meeting. |
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"Surely the role of the regulatory authority is to be the watchdog and, some would say, bloodhound of the financial services sector, rather than the lapdog of unscrupulous, careless and reckless bankers.”
Quote by the Irish lobby group in the Times 13 Jan 09, on shortcomings in regulation following breaches of standards of behaviour by senior Irish bankers (see News 20/12/08) Link to article |
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"We are consoled only by the fact that everything that could have been done, by management and by the board, to preserve the group, was done."
Quote 5 Jan 2008 in the Times by the chairman of Waterford Wedgewood after it was placed in receivership for failing to pay debt interest. He seems to have missed the failure by management to manage its capital structure conservatively. See News 2009 5 Jan for articles. |
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'Look, you've thrown your toys out of the pram once, don't do it again,'
The IFLR quoted the FSA talking to underwriters in B&B's third attempt at a rights issue, in case they used the material adverse change clause TPG used to walk away. See News 8 Jul 08 |
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"like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten."
A quote by the chairman of Satyam after he admitted he had been fraudulently inflating the company's assets for years. See News 2009, 7 Jan 2009, for the article. |
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'Poverty museums'
Microfinance bank founder, Muhammad Yunus, talking of a future where poverty will be extinct and its past will be on show in museums. See News 14 Jul 08 |
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"Blame the credit crunch"
The Times reported a participant in the Max Mosley case was offered £25,000 to smuggle a camera in to tape the action, but paid only half. The news paper blamed the credit crunch for halving the fee. Link to article |
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"Suicides"
The Times reported the head of the Pakistani small investors' association reacting to falling share prices: "If things continue this way you will hear of suicides", a high price for artificially propping up prices. Link to article |
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"Outrageous"
The Times reported small companies are being exploited by larger companies who are delaying payment of invoices:
"Making small businesses wait 105 days for payment and charging them for the privilege of doing so is nothing short of outrageous", said the chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses. See News 21 July for article. |
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"Every five years or so there's a big scare, people say 'ooh, we should be careful. But then the dust settles, people start thinking about their bonuses again and before you know it, risk takes a back seat."
Philippe Stephan of Sophis (a technology company) quoted in the FT 22/08/08 in relation to financial risks at banks and the inadequacy of techology and committment to manage them. |
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“Metrovacesa is at the mercy of the banks."
The Times reported the danger the Spanish property company is in by taking on excessive debt, assets that have since fallen in value, and covenants and gearing that give lenders the upper hand in negotiations. See News 31/08/08 for link to article |
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"an elegant solution"
The Times reported an analyst's opinion of a debt for equity transaction in which bond holders acquired 52% of SkyePharma and equity at 1p that was worth 5.75p the previous day. The deal sent the shares plunging 34%. Good news for bondholders not so for existing shareholders. However, the alternative was the bondholders call in their debt, the company can't repay and it's bankrupted. The analyst maintained a buy recommendation. Link to article |
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“fundamentally and thoroughly dishonest human being”
The Times reported prosecutors' view of Phillip Bennett CEO of bankrupted commodity broker, Refco. They argued he
systematically lied about Refco’s financial condition in a scheme to inflate the company’s value, sell his ownership interest and become rich. He had a $20m plane, $29m art collection, and cars worth $11m. Austrian bank, Bawag PSK agreed to pay at least $675m to settle charges that it helped conceal Refco’s true financial picture. Link to article |
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| "If you try to sell one share in a £20m company that’s looking for tin in Timbuktu, you will probably get the market price. If you try to sell a 20% stake in that business, you won’t get anywhere near £4m for it"
A stockbroker referring to the price risk RAB Capital faced from its stakes in illiquid companies' shares. See News 14/09/08 for link to article. |
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"It is like the chief caveman telling all the people in the tribe that they shouldn't use fire because they might burn themselves"
The response by the head of a spread betting company to the ban on short selling by the FSA, reported in the FT 19 Sep 08. |
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“This is socialism for the fat cats. These people demolished institutions, yet they are walking away with security for life while others and their families have been brought to their knees.”
Comment by
John McFall, chairman of the Treasury select committee, to the news that Barclays will give Lehman New York staff $2.5bn in salaries and bonuses, despite Lehman's failure, and where the 5000 UK staff will get no further pay. |
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| "...neither party has gained any financial benefit. Instead large sums of costs and a large amount of management time have been expended on both sides to no useful purpose. Each party has thrown away golden opportunities to settle this litigation upon favourable terms.”
The Times reported comments of the judge presiding over two companies who went to litigation over a contract that soured, and the subsequent legal battle cost £20m. An example of management not acting in the interests of their shareholders but pusuing personal agendas. The losing company's response? It said that it had been vindicated except on certain technical legal points and that it had applied to the court to appeal those. Link to article |
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"This sucker could go down"
The US president Bush on what might happen to the US economy if the treasury bailout plan is not approived. |
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| "...this [the hedge fund industry] is fundamentally a Darwinian industry and the surviving hedge funds will emerge stronger."
The Times reported the shakeout in the hedge fund sector in the midst of the global financial crisis. See News 051008 for link to article |
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| "..I can’t even go to church as the archbishop doesn’t think much of me either.”
The Times reported the changing fortune and status of a hedge fund manager in the midtst of the global financial liquidity crisis, that is seeing many funds fold up as credit becomes scarce, they are restricted from short-selling, and their funds' performance deteriorates. See News 051008 for link to article |
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| "This is worse than a divorce. I’ve lost half my net worth and I still have a wife,”
A share trader quoted in the Times 11 Oct 08 in response to the worst day on the stock market for 21 years. |
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"Irrational fear has gripped and it seems that markets will now trash almost anything that walks. For now it is unstoppable.”
The view of a strategist quoted in the Times 11 Oct 2008 in response to the massive and relentless falls in share prices worldwide this week. |
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"Circumstances seem to be as dangerous and intractable as any I can remember, and I can remember quite a lot. What really concerns me is that there should be so little willingness or capacity to do anything about it."
Paul Volcker in 2005 (former US Fed Res chairman), and reported in the FT 14 Oct 08 in relation to the global financial crisis. |
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| "Banks never, never notified us of these KIKO options' high risks. They said they were 99 percent sure the Won would continue to rise.''
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CEO of a South Korean company facing losses from currency derivatives that have backfired, reported on Bloomberg 17/10/08. See Citic Pacific article in Articles above, and News item 20/10/2008 Link to article |
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"an extraordinary, almost unimaginable sequence of events. Not since the beginning of the First World War has our banking system been so close to collapse."
Comments by Mervyn King, Governor of the BoE reported in the Times 22 Oct 2008, on the global financial and economic crisis, precipitated, some say, by the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September. |
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"down a bit is the new up"
Current joke, reported in the Times 17 Oct 2008, on Hedge Funds' now defunct claim to generate positive absolute return in any market. This year they are on average down 10%. |
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“This was just old style-cornering. Nothing like this has happened in Britain since the railway scams of the 1890s and it gives Germany a Wild West feel. If you did that here, you would never be able to trade with banks again,”
A London hedge fund manager quoted in the Times 30 Oct 2008 and talking of Porsche's short-squeeze involving Volkswagen shares it had acquired secretly and out-smarted hedge funds and banks who had shorted the shares. See News items 30 Oct and 28 Oct. Link to article |
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| "...mistaken monetary and economic policies and in regulatory failure. These effectively encouraged banks to lend imprudently as there was too much money around to lend cautiously... "
Quote by Howard Flight in the Times 4 Nov 2008 on the root causes of the UK financial crisis of 2007-2008. Link to article |
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"I signed the contract...expecting the Won to go up. At that time, no one thought the Won would fall this much"
The FT 5 Nov 2008 quoted a South Korean business owner who bought geared knock-in knock-out currency options based on the $:Won exchange rate. Many companies bet wrong: the Won depreciated by 30%, well outside the option range, forcing holders to pay double. Losses on the derivatives are thought to be Won1700billion for 517 SMEs. |
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| "He didn’t know a CDO from a grocery list"
A Citigroup executive speaking of Chuck Prince after $bns of Citigroup's write-offs in the aftermath of the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Prince was the former CEO of Citigroup and earlier had been put in charge of corporate and investment banking. Quoted in New York Times Link to article |
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“By and large, credit-default swaps have distributed the risks. They didn’t create it. The only reason people have focused on them is that some politicians don’t know a credit-default swap from a turnip.”
Quote in New York Times by former US senator, Phil Gramm who orchestrated the exemption of derivatives from government regulation, and who has been criticised for the US financial crisis. Link to article |
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| It's like ..."Dodge City before the marshals arrived"
A US senator's description of the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP) set up by the US Treasury to, originally, buy distressed bank assets, and which has also been described as a "mess". Quoted from IDDMagazine.com 25 Nov 08 |
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| "Nobody bought it because it was a toxic waste dump.”
The view of a Wall Street consultant on why potential buyers walked away from buying Lehman Brothers in September 2008, leading to its collapse. Quoted from the Times 13/12/2008 Link to article |
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“Biggest f****** crime syndicate in the world.”
Lehman Brothers' CEO's view of the Russian market in 2006. Months later, regardless, Lehman opened for business there. Lehman went bankrupt in 2008. reported in the Times 14/12/2008. |
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“He is very, very good at calling the US equity market. This guy has managed to return 1 per cent to 1.2 per cent per month, year after year after year.”
Quote in the Tmes 16 Dec 2008 by fund manager, N Horlick, on Madhoff last year (before it was known Madhoff lost $bns of institutional and private investors' funds in a Ponzi-scheme). See News 16 and 17 Dec 2008. These consistent and high returns indicate a 'too good to be true' investment, and professionals should have twigged, or if they did perhaps they were too greedy or lazy to act. Link to article |
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| "Among the best run companies in the world."
The view of
the World Council for Corporate Governance on Satyam 3 months before Satyam felt its shareholders' wrath over dodgy corporate governance. See News 18 Dec 2008 for the reason and article link. Reported in the Times 18 Dec 2008. |
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"a truly scandalous failure of regulation and supervision"
City AM reported on 23 Dec 2008 comments by the head of the OECD that in the build-up to the crisis there had been "a truly scandalous failure of regulation and supervision", adding it could cost 25m jobs globally and asking for more cuts in interest rates and more spending to kick-start economies. Link to article |
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"Waterskiers"
Quote from CEO of Company Watch in the Times 28 Dec 2008 regarding UK retailers in trouble. “These are profitable companies with balance sheets that are severely stretched and are kept afloat only so long as they have sufficient continuing profitable sales pulling them along. As soon as that stops, they find themselves in deep water with no lifeline, and they’re gone.” Link to article |
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“If you were alive, they would give you a loan. Actually, I think if you were dead, they would still give you a loan.”
Quote in New York Times 27 Dec 2008 by a home appraiser, about US mortgage lender, Wasington Mutual's, lax mortgage underwriting lending criteria. The lender collapsed and was acquired by JP Morgan for less than $2bn having peaked at $40bn, and whose executives were paid bonuses on performance that excluded mortgage losses, including $88m to the CEO from 2001-2007. Link to article |
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“These errors make us look either incompetent at credit analysis or like we sold our soul to the devil for revenue, or a little bit of both.”
Quote in New York Times 6 Dec 2008 by a Moody's MD in Sep 2007. Moody's and other rating agencies stand accused of selling their independence to issuers of debt securities especially securitised debt. Read the article here. Link to article |
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"what can't go on forever, won't"
Wall St saying; particularly apt given the mess after the US, UK, and Spanish property market bubbles burst in 2008, and the gluttony of feeding by corporates and investors on debt especially securitised debt. (Jorion 2001, p24) |
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‘it’s not whether you’re right or wrong, but how much you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.'
Quote by Soros in Jorion, 2001, page xvi |
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"an unconscionable waste of value"
Quote by Lehman's liquidator in the Times 29 Dec 2008, referring to the effect of its surprise bankruptcy on its value that could have been saved for its creditors who will get about 10 cents per $ owed. See 29 Dec 2008 News for article |
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“He put the wrong money in the wrong place at the wrong time – he has had quite a few bad investments. He played in a lot of things he shouldn’t have played in, but he is not alone.”
Quote in the Times 4 Jan 2009 by a financier about training shoe entrepreneur, Tom Hunter, who has lost a pile in the financial crisis of 2007-08. His losses are also attributed to being over indebted. Link to article |
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"Forget independence; we'll take care of it"
The FT reported an independent unit set up to tackle Greece's economic crime has been scrapped and efforts brought under government control, despite there being a scandal alleging corruption by politicians. |
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| Jorion, Robert; McGraw-Hill; 2001 |
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