The Great Debate

– James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –

Just as every society has a creation myth, banking is now busily writing a destruction myth that seeks to explain and soothe in a world torn to its foundations.

The myth, as expounded by regulators, bankers and their various service providers, is that we were hit by a perfect storm, a 1,000-year flood so unpredictable that we can’t possibly be held accountable for it. An act of god, rather than the folly of man.

Or as the excellent financial blog Calculated Risk puts it: “Hoocoodanode?”

The implication of course is that now banks know these sorts of things can happen, banks will behave sensibly because it is their best interests to do so. It’s just that the data we put into the models only covered the boom years. Now that we are getting good data on a downturn, well, problem solved. No need for overly heavy-handed regulation, that will only stifle growth and recovery.

– John Kemp is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –

Extreme uncertainty about the economic outlook and the depth of the recession has paralyzed normal lending activity by commercial banks in the United States and elsewhere. Even as the Federal Reserve has added liquidity and boosted bank reserves, the credit creation process has remained stalled as banks struggle to identify good borrowers willing and able to repay in a wide range of future economic conditions.

The attached chart is adapted from the Federal Reserve’s weekly H.8 release on “Assets and Liabilities of Commercial Banks in the United States” (https://customers.reuters.com/d/graphics/US_CRDT1108.gif).

— James Saft is a Reuters columnist. The opinions expressed are his own –

Banks in Europe and Britain, and their unfortunate would-be borrowers, face another blow as plunging oil prices tighten the spigot of petrodollar deposits.

Billions of dollars worth of funds from oil exporting nations have made their way into banks from Zurich to London in recent years. These inflows helped banks withstand credit crisis losses and, given much of the money was in dollars, was a source of dollar liquidity during recent money market difficulties.