Posted on 09/26/2008 5:10:33 AM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
UK banks hold £95bn of sour assets that could qualify for US bailout plan
Miles Costello
Britain’s five leading high street banks have as much as £95.3 billion ($175 billion) of distressed assets on their books that may qualify for the American bailout scheme.
If the British banks tap the rescue fund being set up by the US Treasury and the Federal Reserve to the maximum, they could secure one quarter of the $700 billion being made available. Under the terms of an outline agreement that appeared to have been reached by US policymakers last night, Britain’s lenders will be able to use the facility.
However, the prospect that the US Treasury could pay for UK banks’ bad assets is likely to infuriate some American politicians and taxpayers, who would foot the bill. As Congress edged closer to agreeing a plan for the central bank to take on lenders’ toxic assets, HSBC appeared to be the UK-based bank best placed to benefit.
Combined, the five British lenders hold securities worth $175 billion, which they could transfer to a federally backed Treasury fund. Under the proposed terms of the rescue package, non-US financial institutions must have significant operations in America to qualify.
(Excerpt) Read more at business.timesonline.co.uk ...
Ping!
No $hit, Sherlock, and infuriate is too mild of a word choice.
I can’t really bring myself to being okay with this...
If they bought crappy investments they should go after who they bought them from, not the US taxpayers.
Yes, that’s one of those trick questions:
Which foreign country holds the most US assets?
Not Japan, not China— it’s the UK.
These toxic assets weren’t sold like you would sell a car - they were sold with strings attached, which are now pulling. The assets were insured by the sellers against, for instance, fraud. Otherwise the British banks would not have brought them.
The toxic mortgage assets are legally-binding contracts, and the British banks read the fine print.
UBS, the Swiss bank also qualifies for billions in the bailout. And who runs the UBS investment bank in the US?
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/BANKER 4/10/07 $15,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
NEW YORK,NY 10171 UBS AMERICAS INC./CHAIRMAN 9/29/06 $10,000 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/BANKER 4/28/06 $10,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/BANKER 7/29/06 $10,000 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS AMERICAS INC./CHAIRMAN 7/31/07 $5,000 Democratic Congressional Campaign Cmte (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS GROUP AMERICAS/CEO & CHAIRMAN 7/14/08 $2,300 Clinton, Hillary (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/CEO & CHAIRMAN 9/4/07 $2,300 Emanuel, Rahm (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS/INVESTMENT BANKER 3/20/08 $2,300 Kerry, John (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS/BANKER 3/18/08 $2,300 Warner, Mark (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS SECURITIES 8/6/06 $2,100 Dodd, Christopher J (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
NEW YORK,NY 10019 UBS AMERICAS/CEO 2/28/07 $2,100 Obama, Barack (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS SECURITIES/BANKING EXECUTIVE 8/6/06 $2,100 Dodd, Christopher J (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/CHIEF OPERATING 7/31/06 $2,100 Ford, Harold E Jr (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/CHIEF OPERATING 9/26/06 $2,000 Frank, Barney (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/BANKING 8/16/06 $2,000 Lamont, Ned (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/CHIEF OPERATING 9/25/06 $2,000 Farrell, Diane Goss (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK 6/8/05 $2,000 Clinton, Hillary (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
NEW YORK,NY 10017 JP MORGAN CHASE BANK/INVESTOR 10/30/06 $2,000 Lieberman, Joe (I)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS/CEO OF UBS AMERICAS 5/8/08 $2,000 Baucus, Max (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/COO 3/26/07 $2,000 Durbin, Dick (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS-IB/COO 3/30/08 $2,000 Lowey, Nita M (D)
Wolf, Robert
Purchase,NY 10577 UBS Group America’s 7/31/08 $2,000 Obama, Barack (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS/CFO 9/30/06 $2,000 Lieberman, Joe (I)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS-IB/COO 10/19/06 $2,000 Lowey, Nita M (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
NEW YORK,NY 10022 UBS INVESTMENT BANK 3/28/07 $1,500 Clinton, Hillary (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS/CEO 12/7/07 $1,000 Johnson, Tim (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS WARBURG/MANAGING 3/24/08 $1,000 Murphy, Patrick J (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
MONROE,NY 10950 SELF/ATTORNEY 5/14/08 $1,000 Wexler, Robert (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS 6/29/05 $1,000 Lieberman, Joe (I)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/CHIEF OPERATING 4/14/05 $1,000 CHRIS PAC (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS/COO UBS-IB CHARIMAN AMERICAS 10/11/06 $1,000 Arcuri, Michael (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS/BANKING 8/24/07 $900 Harkin, Tom (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS INVESTMENT BANK/BANKER 8/18/06 $500 Democratic Senatorial Campaign Cmte (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
NEW YORK,NY 10022 GERSTEN SAVAGE LLP/PARTNER 4/20/06 $500 Kean, Thomas H Jr (R)
WOLF, ROBERT
NEW YORK,NY 10021 BRIAN CAVE/ATTORNEY 6/29/07 $250 Clinton, Hillary (D)
WOLF, ROBERT
NEW YORK,NY 10019 UBS AMERICAS/CEO 3/30/07 $200 Obama, Barack (D)
WOLF, ROBERT MR
PURCHASE,NY 10577 UBS WARBURG/MANAGING 3/17/06 $10,000 DNC Services Corp (D)
I understand that but their contracts were not with the US government. The US government doesn’t need to be on the hook for other parties contracts unless we, the US, represented that we would guarantee those financial instruments.
Well, DB, you’re just plain wrong. The U.S. is a free-market, capitalist paradise. The vey paragon of how economies should be run. Until the sh*t hits the fan and the Big Boy are about to take it in the shorts. Then it’s up to the Government and the taxpayers to fix their mistakes. Until they start turning a profit again, then its back to the free-market, capitalist paradise.
Oh well...
How about we buy them back at $.20 on the dollar?
We could make money at that fire sale price.
interesting, thanks
“I can’t really bring myself to being okay with this...
If they bought crappy investments they should go after who they bought them from, not the US taxpayers.”
The same goes for anybody who bought such investments.
If the US treasury is going to effectively write off these debts, and some of those debts are held by foreign banks,then why should those foreign banks not claim in exactly the same way that US banks will?
Besides, this works the other way round too. The UK government has already bailed out one bank, and negotiated a merger between two others (probably illegally) in order to prop them up. No doubt some US investments have been shored up by those measures.
“The US government doesn’t need to be on the hook for other parties contracts unless we, the US, represented that we would guarantee those financial instruments.”
Quite so. However, the US government now HAS represented that they are guaranteeing financial investments. If they are doing that, then they must be doing it for everyone who has a hand in a particular series of investments.
This is the thing with bailouts. They solve a problem true, but at the expense of creating others
Quite a rogues gallery there!
I may die poor, but at least I'll die free!
the crappy investments amount to that spent of buying up the bad debt of a number of US banks. we have done that this year, at your behest to try and prop up your failing system.
that we can potentially get your money back is a great thing, if a little unexpected. how do you think we, the British taxpayer felt, when our banks were told to buy up your bad debt??
pretty much the same as you might be feeling now i would suggest.
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