trouble in bankland

dank geht an fred hopper und ben sowie bloomberg
http://thehousingbubbleblog.com/?p=1346

Citigroup, Bank of America, JPMorgan Squeezed by Bond Market
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aM6rUS3g4Ui0&refer=us

highligts:

Aug. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. are among the biggest losers in the bond market, where the largest U.S. banks' relative borrowing costs are the highest in three years

A slowing economy has prompted investors to demand an additional 11 basis points of interest, or $1.1 million for each $1 billion face amount, on bank bonds since February, according to data compiled by Merrill Lynch & Co. The widening yield premium amounts to a loss of $7.3 billion on bondholders' principal the past six months and a profit squeeze for banks, which make money on the difference between their borrowing and lending charges.

Bank bonds, which account for almost one fifth of the $5.2 trillion U.S. corporate bond market, are heading for their worst year since 1999

Slower growth may cause bond defaults to quadruple by 2008, adding to bank losses, Standard & Poor's says.

The total return on the bank index, including both capital appreciation and reinvested interest, is 1.64 percent this year, the worst since it declined 1.73 percent in 1999.

A slowing economy also may cause a growing number of borrowers to default, requiring banks to set aside more money for losses and leaving less for debt payments. Defaults will rise to 4 percent from their current record low of 1.03 percent by the first quarter of 2008, according to S&P. should also read this / solltet das ebenfall lesen
http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2006/07/risikovorsorge-nicht-notwendig.html, http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2006/08/big-bank-home-construction-conondrum.html

``We're probably at the top of the mountain for loan quality, and it's going to start falling pretty soon

Investors now demand 23 more basis points in yield over government debt, or 1.36 percentage points, to hold Countrywide's $1 billion of 6.25 percent notes than when they were sold in May (no wonder / kein wunder )http://immobilienblasen.blogspot.com/2006/08/10-k-contrywide-cfc.html

Higher borrowing rates have contributed to shrinking lending margins, a measure of profitability. S&P said earlier this month that those margins are at their lowest since 1991.

Citigroup's net interest margin, the difference between the average rate the bank pays to borrow and what it charges in interest, fell to 2.8 percent in the second quarter, the lowest since at least December 2000.

``We view a future deterioration in credit quality as pretty much inevitable,'

``Banks will tighten their lending standards by increasing loan spreads and by simply refusing to lend to some at any spread,'' said Paul Kasriel, director of economic research at Northern Trust Securities, in an e-mail on Aug. 18. ``This, in turn, will create even more drag on economic growth

Debt deemed uncollectible by U.S. banks fell to 0.4 percent of all loans and leases in March, the least since before 1985, according to the Fed. Borrowers defaulted on high-yield, high- risk, or leveraged, loans at a 3.2 percent rate in the first quarter, down from 10 percent in 2002, according to S&P.

Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. was stuck with a non- performing $200 million loan because the borrower's business deteriorated before the bank had a chance to sell the loan to investors, said Richard Bove, who follows the bank for Punk Ziegel & Co. in Pinellas Park, Florida

``SunTrust is definitely a bellwether,'' said Tanya Azarchs, managing director and coordinator of global research at S&P in New York. ``We're going to see a lot more of this.''

jan-martin