F.H.A. Faces $4.6 Billion in Losses

"Unexpected losses".......LOL!

"President Bush and leading Democrats in Congress are counting on the F.H.A., which is overseen by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to help istressed borrowers refinance into stable, government-backed loans."

Got gold.....?

Yves from Naked Capitalsim has much more on this topic FHA Repudiates Housing Rescue Bill including this desperate comment to fend off the latest rescue packages from the FHA chief Brian Montgomery ( also hat tip to Housing Wire) .

Yves von Naked Capitalsim hat mehr deprimierende Details zu diesem verzweifelten Versuch der Politik das Unvermeindliche zu verhindern FHA Repudiates Housing Rescue Bill . Hier ein an Deutlichkeit nicht zu überbietender Hilfeschrei von FHA Boss Brian Montgomery ( Dank auch an Housing Wire) das die von der Politik geplanten Rettungsaktionen für den US Immobilienmarkt unweigerlich in ein Desaster führen werden ..... Unnötig zu erwähnen das letztendlich der Steuerzahler für diesen erneuten Irrsinn geradezustehen hat...... Unnötig ebenfalls zu betonen das sich die Politiker gerade in Wahlkampfzeiten am Ende sicher durchsetzen werden....

"Some of the proposed Congressional actions could actually weaken FHA and endanger the housing market by turning FHA into a less stable, less solvent, more bureaucratic entity.

There are some who want FHA to pick up all the potentially delinquent 2 million subprime loans.This is a worrisome idea.

FHA is designed to help stabilize the economy, operating within manageable, low-risk loans.It is not designed to become the federal lender of last resort, a mega-agency to subsidize bad loans."

He should have been so vocal a litlle bit earlier ( enjoy the rant from Mish )

Hier noch ein netter Rumumschlag von Mish

F.H.A. Faces $4.6 Billion in Losses NYT
WASHINGTON — The Federal Housing Administration expects to lose $4.6 billion because of unexpectedly high default rates on home loans, officials said Monday.

Brian D. Montgomery, the F.H.A. commissioner, attributed the unanticipated losses primarily to the agency’s seller-financed down payment mortgage program, which has suffered from high delinquency and foreclosure rates in recent years.

Housing officials said the agency was also hurt by poor performance in its traditional mortgage portfolio. Deteriorating economic conditions led some of its core clients — first-time buyers, minorities and lower-income owners — to default, they said.

The projected loss is the highest in the home loan program since 2004, and officials said the F.H.A. had to withdraw $4.6 billion from its $21 billion capital reserve fund in May to cover the costs. They said the agency, which is self-sustaining, would not need appropriations from Congress to remain solvent.

But Mr. Montgomery warned that the F.H.A. would have to renew its efforts to end the seller-financed down payment program, which accounted for 35 percent of its loans in 2007.

He said the mortgages had foreclosure rates three times those of traditional loans and would push the F.H.A. to the brink of insolvency.

“Let me repeat: F.H.A. is solvent,” Mr. Montgomery said on Monday in a speech at the National Press Club. “However, no insurance company can sustain that amount of additional costs year after year and still survive. Unless we take action to mitigate these losses, F.H.A. will soon either have to shut down or rely on appropriations to operate.”

F.H.A.’s projected loss, more than four times the shortfall attributed to the home program last year, raised concerns about the agency’s ability to lead the national effort to rescue homeowners facing foreclosure.

President Bush and leading Democrats in Congress are counting on the F.H.A., which is overseen by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, to help distressed borrowers refinance into stable, government-backed loans.

Officials say the agency will help 500,000 people refinance by the end of the year, but a vast majority of those have made their payments on time.

Howard Glaser, a mortgage industry consultant who served as HUD general counsel in the Clinton administration, sees the anticipated loss as a concern. “Congress is relying on F.H.A. to help stabilize the mortgage market, but it’s not clear that F.H.A. is as strong as it could be,” he said.

Mr. Montgomery said the agency planned to reopen the comment period on a proposed rule to the Federal Register that would ban the program. But the F.H.A. has tried to eliminate seller-financed down payment loans for years, and it remains unclear whether it will be successful now.

Under the program, a home seller arranges to cover the buyer’s down payment, using financial help from a nonprofit company, but typically adds that sum or more to the price of the house. The deal has been particularly attractive to financially struggling buyers and to owners in depressed markets, according to Congressional officials.

Critics say the practice puts overpriced houses in the hands of poor and minority homeowners who ultimately cannot cover the mortgage. In recent years, the Government Accountability Office and the Internal Revenue Service have both raised concerns about the program.

But with the subprime market collapsed and mortgage companies tightening lending criteria, seller down payment loans have become increasingly appealing both to sellers in slumping housing markets and to lower-income homebuyers unable to get conventional mortgages.

The program, which accounted for less than 2 percent of F.H.A.-insured loans in 2000, now accounts for more than a third of the agency’s portfolio. Housing officials said that 60 percent of F.H.A.’s anticipated loss was directly attributable to the seller-financed down payment program.

Supporters of the loans, who include some powerful members of Congress, counter that the program provides much-needed assistance to low-income and minority families who would otherwise be unable to buy homes.

Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, remains opposed to any F.H.A. rule that would eliminate the program, a spokesman said on Monday. Mr. Frank has said he would like to reform the program without killing it.

Freddie aka Fraudie Mac / Market Sentiment

It´s always the reaction to the news that is important....And sending the stock higher almost 10 percent on the following news is a clear sign that the complacency has taken over again....A look at the VIX is confirming this view. On top of this Doug Kasshas observed this: "Investors Intelligence bulls are back up to 46, as bears drop to 29.9 -- at respective highs and lows since January". I think this headline via FT Alphaville sums it up nicely Not as bad as feared’ is the new code for ‘buy, buy, buy’ Here are More Reasuring Facts On Phony Mae aka Fannie Mae

Eine der wichtigsten Regeln für Anleger und Trader ist jeweils zu beachten wie der Markt auf bestimmte Nachrichten reagiert. Und wenn man nach den folgenden Neuigkeiten die Aktie fast 10 % nach oben katapultiert ist das für mich ein klares Zeichen das wir uns einem Level nähern der doch langsam wieder bedenklich wird.....Der sich rapide beruhigende VIX unterstreicht diesen Trend. Doug Kass hat diese Statistik die wunderbar zum Gesamtbild passt. "Investors Intelligence bulls are back up to 46, as bears drop to 29.9 -- at respective highs and lows since January" . Diese Schlagzeile via FT Alphaville fasst es ziemlich gut zusammen Not as bad as feared’ is the new code for ‘buy, buy, buy’ Hier gibt es mehr More Reasuring Facts On Phony Mae aka Fannie Mae

Parsing Freddie's Profit Report WSJ
Freddie Mac's earnings report more clearly than ever defined the battle lines between the company's shareholders and the government, which sees it as one of its main tools to bolster the housing market.

The report the mortgage giant issued Wednesday shows that the company's cushion for losses fell sharply in the quarter, giving it one of the weakest balance sheets in the financial sector and leaving it more vulnerable to future hits from the housing crunch.

This weakening in Freddie Mac's financial footing will unnerve politicians keen to see Freddie buy and guarantee even more mortgages to alleviate the credit crunch.

And investors sniffing around Freddie's shares may also want to pay heed to the enervated balance sheet. That is because the company likely will have to sell a large amount of new stock, diluting existing shareholders, to strengthen its balance sheet.

Freddie said Wednesday that it planned to sell $5.5 billion of common and preferred stock. "I think they'll continue to raise capital," said Paul Miller, an analyst at FBR Capital Markets.

The company's weakened state was lost on investors who rejoiced that the loss was smaller than expected and drove its shares up 9%. But the smaller-than-expected loss was primarily the result of accounting changes made in the quarter that allowed the company to book certain gains in earnings and exclude certain losses.

Freddie reclassified $90 billion in securities, boosting profit by about $1 billion compared with the fourth quarter.

Hat tip Calculated Risk

Analyst: There is a headline out there that you have level 3 assets of $157 billion. I was just wondering is that true and is that related at all to the markups of the 1.2 billion gain?

Freddie Mac: No, it is not Paul. We made a determination in the first quarter that given how widely the pricing we were getting on the abs portfolio [varied] that it no longer made sense to leave that into level two. So we essentially moved the entire abs portfolio into level three. We were still using the mean pricing that we were getting from the dealers. So we’re not using a model price. That is all that is. It has nothing to do with the trading portfolio

Another change -- related to its mortgage guarantees -- reduced a potential hit to profit by about $1 billion compared with the fourth quarter. A maneuver that delays taking credit losses also allowed the company to avoid losses in the quarter.

Excluding these and some other accounting changes, Freddie's modest $151 million loss would have been a more worrisome $2 billion.

More insights via Calculated Risk On Freddie Mac Accounting Change

One way to cut through the earnings noise is to go to the balance sheet and zero in on its leverage -- the amount of shareholders' equity Freddie has supporting its $803 billion of assets, which are the loans it has retained.

In the first quarter, Freddie's assets exceeded its $16 billion of shareholders' equity -- its leverage ratio -- by 50.2 times. Fannie's first-quarter leverage ratio was 21.7 times, while the first-quarter average for the 20 largest U.S. lenders was just under 12 times, according to data from SNL Financial.

A Freddie spokesman declined to comment on its leverage specifically. And to be fair to Freddie, some of the market losses that are driving down Freddie's equity may one day be recovered. For instance, equity plunged to $16 billion from $26.7 billion in the fourth quarter, in part because of unrealized losses on securities backed by subprime mortgages.

But if Freddie were a regular bank, its regulator wouldn't let leverage get anywhere close to 50 times. At a nosebleed level like that, the regulator would push Freddie to keep raising capital, even if some of its losses in equity might be fleeting.

Shareholders could sputter about the continued dilution, but the government won't be very sympathetic.

More Reasuring Facts On Phony Mae aka Fannie Mae

This is an update on yesterdays post Reasuring Phony Mae & Fraudie Mac Facts........ The stock was under pressure premarket ( down 15 percent ) and closed higher with almost 9 percent. No wonder when you read the "bullish" points the WSJ is making...... Got gold......? More via Minyanville Five Things You Need to Know: Fannie Mae Inadvertently Predicts Housing Bottom & Barry Ritholtz Fannie Mae is Fantastic !

Das ist ein Folgepost zum dem gestrigen Eintrag Reasuring Phony Mae & Fraudie Mac Facts........ Vorbörslich war die Aktie start unter Druck und notierte bis zu 15 % schwächer. Geschlossen hat Phony Mae 9% höher. Muß wohl an den bullishen Fakten die das WSJ zusammengetragen hat liegen..... Got Gold....? Hier teilweise substanzielles von der FAZ Riesige Verluste können Fannie-Mae-Aktie nicht dauerhaft belasten sowie substanzielles via Minyanville Five Things You Need to Know: Fannie Mae Inadvertently Predicts Housing Bottom sowie Barry Ritholtz Fannie Mae is Fantastic !

Will $6 Billion Do for Fannie? WSJ
That is the amount of new money the mortgage giant said Tuesday that it would raise through the sale of common and preferred stock. But Fannie Mae could need even more capital if it really wants to shore up its balance sheet while also backstopping the national housing market.

How much more depends on an investor's view of the best way to measure the firm's net worth, as well as the amount of capital it should put aside against its burgeoning mortgage book. Bearish outlooks on these counts lead to scenarios where Fannie needs to raise anywhere from $5 billion to about $15 billion in additional funds.

Underpinning those pessimistic outlooks are the considerable headwinds that Fannie continues to face. The company posted a $2.2 billion first-quarter loss, for its third consecutive quarter in the red. The government-sponsored provider of funds for home mortgages expects national housing prices to fall 7% to 9% this year, while its exposure to hard-hit areas such as California and Florida could cause it even greater pain.

Fannie may soon have to book some big, unrealized losses it has been sitting on, further reducing its book value, or net worth.

Especially alarming: Based on market values for assets it holds, Fannie's net worth attributable to common stockholders would have been a negative $2 billion at the end of March.

For its part, Fannie doesn't see any need to raise more than $6 billion in capital. Chief Executive Daniel Mudd said on a conference call that the new funds will protect Fannie's balance sheet against future losses, allow it to expand its business and enable it to act as a bulwark for the housing market nationwide.

Mr. Mudd told investors that -- including the $6 billion in new capital, a 29% dividend cut and regulatory capital relief -- Fannie will have $48 billion in capital. That, he added, is $17 billion more than the company's federal regulator said it needs.

"We will feast off this book of business we're putting on for many years to come," Mr. Mudd said. Fannie's stock rose $2.52, or 8.9%, to $30.81 at 4 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.

Some investors even felt Fannie didn't need to raise any new money. But that view is based on the idea that market-value losses shown by Fannie are fleeting.

Bears don't buy that, especially given the unprecedented scope of the housing crisis. They say it is a mistake to look at Fannie's regulatory capital number, which excludes large unrealized losses.

These investors argue that Fannie's market-value balance sheet gives a clearer picture. At the end of March, this market-value view showed the firm with total net worth of $12.2 billion, a bruising $23.6 billion decline from $35.8 billion at the end of 2007.

This figure comprised $14 billion in net worth attributable to preferred stock holders, while that attributable to common holders was negative $2 billion.

That $12.2 billion is the effective balance-sheet cushion against future losses. But it is equivalent to only 1.4% of Fannie's $866.7 billion in assets, measured using market values.

Not all the market-value losses will come to pass, of course. But some likely will. Fannie, for instance, disclosed that $16.9 billion of the $23.6 billion decline in market-value net worth came from increasing the value of a liability that represents future payouts on mortgage guarantees.

The increase in this guarantee obligation reflects, in part, new, higher estimates of credit losses. If these credit losses were to occur, they would show up on Fannie's books as cash payouts and realized losses.

Fannie may face pressure on earnings and its net worth in other areas. It disclosed that at the end of March it had $9.2 billion in unrealized losses on securities that haven't so far been reflected in earnings. Of these, $5.4 billion are more than a year old.

In addition, Fannie has so far balked at creating a special reserve against any portion of its $17.8 billion in deferred tax assets. The company can use those only to offset profit. As its loss-making period stretches, arguments could grow louder that Fannie needs to reserve against part of this asset. Doing so would result in another charge against profit that would hit net worth.

Those kind of charges could leave Fannie's $6 billion cushion looking awfully thin.

Reasuring Phony Mae & Fraudie Mac Facts.......

Schould be an interesting call today........ Got gold? UPDATE: Stock under pressure premarket......... No wonder when you read through the Q1 Investor Summary Fannie Mae ( especially the delinquency rates starting page 22 ). Now up over 5 percent!

Sind das nicht beruhigfende Daten und Fakten zu den wohl wichtigsten Finanzinstituten weltweit...... Wird sicher eine interessante Telefonkonferenz........Got Gold? UPDATE: Aktie vorbörslich stark unter Druck. ......Sollte bei Durchsicht der folgenden Präsentation Q1 Investor Summary Fannie Mae nicht weiter verwundern. Lege Euch besonders die Charts zu den notleidenden Krediten ab Seite 22 ans Herz. Inzwischen über 5% im Plus!

Doubts Raised on Big Backers of Mortgages NYT
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now overwhelmingly dominate it, handling more than 80 percent of all mortgages bought by investors in the first quarter of this year. That is more than double their market share in 2006.

But some financial experts worry that the companies are dangerously close to the edge, especially if home prices go through another steep decline. Their combined cushion of $83 billion — the capital that their regulator requires them to hold — underpins a colossal $5 trillion in debt and other financial commitments.

The companies, which were created by Congress but are owned by investors, suffered more than $9 billion in mortgage-related losses last year, and analysts expect those losses to grow this year. Fannie Mae is to release its latest financial results on Tuesday and Freddie Mac is to report earnings next week.

bigger/größer

The companies are sitting on as much as $19 billion in additional losses that they have not yet fully acknowledged, analysts say. If either company stumbled, the mortgage business could lose its only lubricant, potentially causing the housing market to plummet and the credit markets to freeze up completely.

By the end of last year, the companies had guaranteed or invested in $717 billion of subprime and Alt-A loans, up from almost none in 2000.

Last year, in return for buying billions of dollars of subprime mortgages to help stabilize the market, executives won the right to expand their investment portfolios. In March, the companies agreed to raise more capital within the year. In exchange, they received an additional $200 billion in purchasing power.

UPDATE:

I think you can add another $ 200 bilion..... Party on.....

Nach diesen Meldungen dürfte wohl noch mal eine ähnliche Summe hinzukommen.... Die Party geht weiter.....

Marketwatch Fannie Mae's federal regulator said on Tuesday it will reduce the company's capital-surplus requirement to 15% from 20% when Fannie Mae completes a new capital-raising plan. Fannie said Tuesday it is planning to raise $6 billion in new capital. The mortgage-finance giant reported a first-quarter loss of $2.2 billion on Monday, or $2.57 a share, citing credit-related expenses

> On top of this Fannie is hinting that another 5 percentage point reduction to 10 will be in place in September 2008 ( see end of page 1 Press Release!)

> Darüberhinaus wird angedeuted das eine weitere Reduzierung um 5 Punkte auf dann 10% wohl Ende September kommen wird ( siehe Ende Seite 1 Press Release )

“We’ve taken tremendous risks by loosening these companies’ purse strings,” said Senator Mel Martinez, Republican of Florida and a former secretary of housing and urban development. “They could cause an economywide meltdown if they got into real trouble and leave the public on the hook for billions.”

> When watching this tiny spread it should be clear that the market is already assuming that there will the biggest bailout ever....

> Beim Betrachten dieser lächerlichen Risikoaufschlägen sollte jedem klar sein das hier der gigantischte Bailout der Geschichte bereits als gegeben hingenommen wird. Leider wohl mal wieder zurecht.....

Last month, the companies promised to pump money into the more expensive reaches of the housing market. In return, Congress temporarily raised the cap on the size of the mortgages they can buy to almost $730,000 from $417,000

> Here is more on Phony & Freddie from Contrary Investor

Again, please remember that the important numbers to focus upon are the twelve month moving average amounts. These are the numbers that are really showing us trend and potentially important trend change from a historical perspective. In fact, although it's just our opinion, we believe what you'll see below is not being given enough attention in financial market circles these days. First up is foreign purchases of US government agency securities. In the past, what has attracted foreign interest, at least we believe so, has been the yield spread differential between government agency paper and Treasuries. You can clearly see that since the summer of last year, foreign community purchasing of US government agency paper has cooled down meaningfully. The last time we saw this type of a drop off was when it became known that Freddie, and then Fannie a short while later, were no longer able to file audited financial statements

Remember, these are numbers through February. What had not yet transpired when these numbers were reported was the revelation of increased lending limits for Fannie and Freddie in conventional mortgage lending from $417K to $729K. Moreover, the OFHEO had also not yet allowed lowered capital requirements for these two mortgage paper behemoths, further allowing them to mushroom their balance sheets relative to total capital should they choose to do so in the future (which they will choose to do so - count on it). The question becomes, what will foreign community reaction to these two news items be come the March and April numbers for foreign purchases of US agency paper? Implicit with the hike in nominal dollar lending limits and the allowance of balance sheet growth on what will be a defacto smaller capital base is increased financial risk. You already know we'll be sure to let you know foreign reaction vis-à-vis forward purchasing of agency paper. The bottom line being? The answer will be a matter of confidence. And it sure as heck appears clear that confidence in US financial paper has already become a very meaningful issue for the foreign community really since last summer.

As you'll see below, to suggest that the foreign community has been an important support to cost of capital at the government agency level, and ultimately the cost of mortgage debt in the US over time, is a wild understatement.

> The US should be very fortunate that they have found enough "dump" money to accumulate these kind of secirities..... CHAPEAU ( no kidding )!

> Die US können sich in der Tat wirklich glücklich schätzen das es Ihnen gelungen ist soviel ausländischen Kapital in solch Papiere zu lotsen. Ziehe aufrichtig meinen Hut vor solch guter PR!

Details BOE £50bn Special Liquidity Scheme / "Market Maker Of Last Resort" / Bailout

Another attempt to keep the credit flowing again. Here is the BOE "Bailout" Release . For more insights see Bank of England Swaps Bonds to Revive Bank Lending / Bloomberg & Helpful but…the SLS verdict FT Alphaville. More updates at the end of the post.

Ein neuerlicher Versuch das Unvermeindliche zu vehindern. Hier der offizielle Text BOE "Bailout" Release . Mehr von Bloomberg Bank of England Swaps Bonds to Revive Bank Lending sowie FT Alphaville Helpful but…the SLS verdict. Weitere Updates am Ende des Postings

Funny how they are claiming that they won´t accept no US mortgages ("It will not accept securities backed by US mortgages") and in the next sentence they are willing to take the smallest haircuts on Freddie Mac,Fannie Mae and Federal Home Loans..... But overall i have to admit that the haircuts seem to give the taxpayer some cushion.... But (and this is a big but) comparing the haircut with the following chart......

Schon belustigend wie in einem Satz behauptet wird das keine US Hypotheken als Papiere zugelassen sind und im nächsten Satz die Papiere von Freddie Mac,Fannie Mae and Federal Home Loans zu den mit den geringsten Sicherheitsabschlägen gehören. ...... Immerhin sieht es so aus als wenn die Sicherheitsabschläge dem Steuerzahler einen gewissen Sicherheitspuffer zu geben scheinen......Sobald man aber die Sicherheitsabschläge mit dem nachfolgenden Chart ins Verhältnis setzt erscheinen die angeblich so großen Risikoabschläge in einem anderen Licht...........

I had expected more generous terms from the BOE. It´s somewhat scary to see that despite the poor performance from the rating agencies they still dominate all kinds of models. This makes Moody´s probably a good buy....Sarcasm off....To keep this move into perspective one has to admit that they are only playing catch up with other central banks. Here are more charts & reports from UK

Ich persönlich hatte eine bankenfreundliche Regelung von der BOE erwartet. Es hätte also schlimmer kommen können und unterm Strich bleibt festzuhalten das die BOE sich im Grundsatz nur die Politik anderer Notenbanken aneignet. Hier gibt es mehr "beindruckenden" Charts & News zur Bubblehochburg UK. Befremdlich bleibt trotz alledem das trotz der unterirdischen Leistungen der Ratingagenturen anscheinend immer noch auf deren Wertungen vertraut wird. Evtl. ist Moody´s ja doch ein Kauf.... :-)

I suggest to read the entire paper / Empfehle den kompletten Link zu lesen SPECIAL LIQUIDITY SCHEME / BOE (Full of details!)

Banks will be required to pay a fee to borrow the Treasury Bills. The fee charged will be the spread between the 3-month London Interbank interest rate (Libor) and the 3-month interest rate for borrowing against the security of government bonds, subject to a floor of 20 basis points.

The Bank of England will decide the margin between the value of the Treasury bills borrowed and the value of the assets banks are required to provide as security. For example, if a bank were to provide £100 of AAA-rated UK residential mortgage-backed securities, it would, depending on the specific characteristics of the assets, receive somewhere between £70 and £90 of Treasury Bills.

Each participant may deliver as collateral only eligible securities held on balance sheet as at 31 December 2007....

Eligible securities will be valued by the Bank using observed market prices that are independent and routinely publicly available. The Bank reserves the right to use its own calculated prices. If an independent market price is unavailable, the Bank will use its own calculated price and apply a higher haircut. The Bank’s valuation is binding.

ELIGIBLE SECURITIES ( Highlights or Lowlights...)

AAA-rated tranches of UK, US and EEA Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) backed by credit cards ....

Conventional debt issued by the US Government Sponsored Enterprises (Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Federal Home Loans), rated AAA.

HAIRCUTS

Additional notes:
An additional 3pp will be added to haircuts to allow for currency risk when securities are nonsterling.

An additional 5pp will be applied to own-name eligible covered bonds, RMBS and credit card ABS.

An additional 5pp will be applied to securities for which no market price is observable.

Banks to Pay Steep Cost in BOE Plan WSJ - The new plan also hopes to tackle the stigma that dogged some of the central bank's other lending. Like most central banks, the Bank of England runs a facility through which commercial banks can borrow overnight funds anonymously. But the central bank had to publicize when the overnight window was tapped, which "led to the great bank hunt," Mr. King said, to learn the identity of banks seeking funds.

To avoid that hunt, the central bank won't disclose the amounts being swapped by banks through its new program until the borrowing window closes in six months.

The BoE’s £50bn ‘baby’ comes not before time, Buiter FT Alphaville - With this move, says Buiter, the Bank is now “wholeheartedly committed” to acting as market marker of last resort for systemically important securities for which the markets have become illiquid, not to say defunct, since the start of the crisis in August 2007.

The market maker of last resort “provides market liquidity in the transactions-based model of financial capitalism the same way the lender of last resort provides funding liquidity to banks in the relationships-based model of financial capitalism,” he adds.

IKB Bailout Hatrick

Click here to read my earlier rants on the IKB mess.... Here comes another good rant from the FT Let it fail, Mitteleuropa edition

Klickt bitte here um sich meine vorherigen Tiraden zur IKB anzusehen.... Hier als Nachschlag noch ein deftiger Kommentar der FT Let it fail, Mitteleuropa edition

Comment from the anual report before the troube began.....

Auszug aus dem Konzerngeschäftsbericht 2006/07 der IKB / PDF als die Welt noch in Ordnung war ......

The capital released through our securitisation activities over recent years has been used to expandour national and international lending business. Additionally, the capital has also been used to investing international loan portfolios. Two thirds of our investments are focused on US investment-gradeportfolios (including, for example, credit card claims,mortgage loan claims and corporate loans), with theremaining third being invested in similarly structured European portfolios.

Das durch die Verbriefung während der letzten Jahre freigesetzte Kapital haben wir für die Ausweitung unseres nationalen und internationalen Kreditgeschäftes genutzt. Darüber hinaus haben wir dieses Kapital verwendet, um in internationale Kreditportfolien zu investieren. Unsere Investments konzentrieren sich zu zwei Dritteln auf mindestens Investmentgrade-geratete US-Portfolios (wie zum Beispiel Kreditkartenforderungen, Hypothekenkreditforderungen sowie Unternehmenskredite) sowie zu einem Drittel auf europäische Portfolien mit ähnlichen Strukturen.

This "adventure" combined with incompetence from the board, management and oversight has cost the German taxpayer now close to € 7 billion....... It´s almost like MBIA, Ambac & Co that earned easy money with their muni bond insurance and got greedy..... IKB was once the leading German Mittelstandsbank with superior knowledge and a very high reputation. But they have decided to leave their core business....

Dieser "Ausflug" kombiniert mit totaler Inkompetenz vom Management, Aufsichtsrat und der Aufsicht hat den deutschen Steuerzahler mal eben die Kleinigkeit von 7 Mrd € gekostet......Man kann das wohl mit MBIA, Ambac & Co vergleichen die ebenfalls auf einer Art Gelddruckmaschine saßen und dann zu gierig wurden und den Bereich der öffentlichen Anleihen verlassen haben. Die IKB war einst die führende Mittelstandsbank in Deutschland mit erstklassiger Expertise und einem ausgezeichneten Ruf. Nachdem man sich entschieden hat anstelle des Mittelstandes lieber waghalsige US Hypotheken und Konsumenten zu unterstützen sollte der tiefe Fall nicht weiter überraschen. Schade nur das für Banken offenbar andere Maßstäbe als für die restlichen Branchen gelten......

NYT FRANKFURT — The German government said on Wednesday that it would participate in a third bailout of IKB Deutsche Industriebank, the lender whose near-collapse in July heralded the arrival in Europe of the crisis stemming from the faltering subprime mortgage market in the United States.

The German finance minister, Peer Steinbrück, said in Berlin that the federal government would contribute two-thirds of a rescue package totaling 1.5 billion euros ($2.2 billion). The question of where the remaining euros would come from was open, he said, but a government spokesman said that private banks were expected to contribute.

Mr. Steinbrück spoke after a lengthy meeting of the board of KfW, the state-owned bank that is the largest shareholder in IKB.

The rescue package aims to resolve the problems at IKB, based in Düsseldorf, which was once a conservative corporate bank but became a global symbol of risky excess.

Like many banks, IKB speculated in securities linked to American mortgages. But the market value of those investments has fallen significantly, forcing KfW, which owns 38 percent of the bank, and a consortium of private banks, to recapitalize the lender.

As it became clear that IKB was close to using all of the 5.65 billion euros previously committed to cover losses, discussions began about how to permanently rescue the bank. .....

KfW primarily focuses on development projects abroad and selected lending programs in Germany. It has been able to finance previous rescues of IKB — the last one was in late November — from its existing resources, but needed more money from Berlin to both support IKB and keep up its other work.

The prospect of direct state support for IKB generated cries that the banking industry, having profited from speculation in subprime-linked securities, was now handing the German taxpayer the bill for its losses.

Bund stützt IKB mit Staatsgeld FTD

Steuerzahler müssen IKB retten FAZ

Staat pumpt erneut Milliardensumme in IKB Handelsblatt

ECB To The Rescue....... Bubble World Tour : Spain

No wonder why gold is shining...... I suggest to read ECB A Dumping Ground for Financial Toxic Waste from Lee Adler and especially to watch the video to understand that this kind of collateral is indeed way too often "toxic".....

Kein Wunder das Gold sich trotz zwischenzeitiger $ Stärke weiter gen Norden stürmt..... Ich empfehle zudem noch ECB A Dumping Ground for Financial Toxic Waste von Lee Adler zu lesen sowie zwingend den Clip anzusehen. Sieht so aus als wenn diese Hypotheken zum Teil jetzt bei der EZB lagern......


Spanish banks' reliance on ECB funding surges FT
The European Central Bank has in effect funded new lending in Spain in recent months, replacing banks' use of wholesale capital markets, which have been strangled by the global credit crunch.

Spanish banks doubled their share of the ECB's weekly funding auctions in the final quarter of last year, taking their borrowing up to €44bn ($64bn) in December from a running average of about €20bn over the previous 15 months, according to the most recent data from the Bank of Spain.

This extra lending of almost €24bn outstrips the quarterly amounts raised previously by Spanish banks from securitisation markets, which is an important comparison because the banks have increasingly used mainly mortgage-backed securities as collateral with the ECB.




The market for securitised debt and for mortgage-backed bonds in particular has been almost entirely shut since the credit crunch hit last summer and investors began shunning all kinds of complex, structured debt.

The Spanish banking system is second only to the UK in Europe in its use of mortgage-backed bond markets and other securitisations to fund lending.

However, the Bank of England did not accept mortgage-backed debt as collateral in similar lending operations until after the run on Northern Rock.

Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the ECB, last week insisted the central bank had not been bailing out banks in Spain, but said that there had been a marked increase use of securitised bonds as collateral by Spanish banks and others.

Bank of England lending to UK banks grew by about £6.2bn over the same period, but there is no data on the collateral used. In the US, the Federal Home Loan Bank has pumped $750bn into the system by extending longer-term funding direct to mortgage lenders, such as Countrywide.

The big difference is that European banks must re-raise this funding every week and the mortgage- backed bonds pledged at the ECB eventually will have to find their way to the capital markets, which many analysts believe could mean that markets such as Spain are potentially storing up problems for the future.

While markets for securitised debt remain closed, it is difficult to put a price on European mortgage-backed securities and banks in the region can be much slower to mark down the value of holdings of such bonds. By accepting them in exchange for cash, the ECB may be delaying the repricing of risk that analysts believe is necessary for the orderly resumption markets in such debt.

"The credit markets have been on heroine and while the US solution is put them through cold turkey, the Europeans want to put them on methadone," said one London-based economist.

> Toro has some more thoughts & data on spain

> Toro hat noch weitere Gedanken und Detail zum Thema Spanien

IKB Bailout Now Topping € 8 Billion

Another day, another frustrating event in the German banking sector. One day after the € 5 billion West LB fiasco the IKB is hitting the news once again with another € 2 billion risk that needs to be stuffed mainly through the state owned KfW ( already on the hook for € 5 billion and with close to 40 percent the major shareholder ). There are talks to get more money from commercial German banks ( so far € 500 Mio ) but i doubt that they will step in and provide this kind of incompetence any further. The situation has gotten so worse that the KfW / Pdf is in danger to run out of money to provide the German Mittelstand with financing...... Here is more on the IKB saga....

Ein neuer Tag und natürlich eine neue Hiobsbotschaft aus dem Reich der Inkompetenz. Ein paar Tahe nach dem 5 € Mrd West LB fiasco schickt sich die IKB an erneut 2 Mrd. € an Steuergeldern zu vereinnahmen um den längst fälligen Niedergang aufzuhalten. Wie bei den bereits bisher zugesagten Summen ist auch hier die KfW / Pdf und damit der Steuerzahler wohl für fast die gesamte Summe verantwortlich. Inzwischen ist die Lage aber selbst bei der KfW so angespannt das hier Finanzierungslücken im ursprünglichen Geschäft der KfW drohen. Bleibt zu hoffen das zumindest der deutsche Mittelstand nicht noch mehr darunter zu leiden hat das ein paar unfähige Herren bei IKB ( im Zusammenhang mit Aufsichtsrat und Aufsichtsbehörden ) im großen Stile wahnwitzige US Hypothekenfinanzierungen ermöglicht haben.......Hier ein paar ältere Posts zur IKB.

Dank an Hartgeld

Handelsblatt FRANKFURT. Die angeschlagene Mittelstandsbank IKB braucht erneut eine milliardenschwere Kapitalspritze, um das Überleben der Bank zu sichern und die Kapitalbasis zu stärken. „Die Situation ist kritisch“, sagte ein Insider. Es gehe um ein drittes Rettungspaket in Höhe von bis zu 1,75 Mrd. Euro.

Noch gebe es aber keine Einigung der Beteiligten: "Alles ist im Fluss." Am Mittwoch tagt Finanzkreisen zufolge der 37-köpfige Verwaltungsrat der KfW, die mit rund 38 Prozent der größte Anteilseigner der IKB ist.

Das neue Rettungspaket ist Finanzkreisen zufolge aktuell Gegenstand von Verhandlungen zwischen KfW, der mit knapp zwölf Prozent beteiligten Stiftung Industrieforschung sowie den privaten Banken, die im Bundesverband deutscher Banken (BdB) organisiert sind. Unklar sei aber, ob nicht auch der Bund einspringen müsse. So spreche die KfW auch mit der Regierung über eine mögliche Unterstützung. Grundsätzlich reiche das Eigenkapital der KfW zwar aus, um entsprechend ihrem Anteil die IKB erneut zu retten, hieß es. Seit der letzten Unterstützungsaktion nähere sich der Kapitalbedarf aber der Grenze, ab der es nicht mehr hundertprozentig auszuschließen sei, dass die IKB -Krise den Eigenkapitalanteil, mit dem die ERP-Mittelstandsprogramme abgesichert sind, berühren könnte. Der Bund solle sicherstellen, dass dies nicht passieren könne.

Vorsitzender des Verwaltungsrats der KfW ist seit Jahresbeginn Bundeswirtschaftsminister Michael Glos (CSU). Das Wirtschaftsministerium wollte sich auf Anfrage nicht zur neuerlichen IKB -Krise äußern. Auch IKB, BdB und KfW lehnten eine Stellungnahme ab.

Die IKB war wegen milliardenschwerer Engagements im US-Subprime-Markt in die Krise geraten und konnte im Juli vergangenen Jahres nur durch das Eingreifen der deutschen Kreditwirtschaft vor dem Zusammenbruch gerettet werden. Seither wurden der Düsseldorfer Bank Garantien über sechs Mrd. Euro gewährt, rund fünf davon trägt die staatliche KfW. Der BdB kommt auf etwa eine halbe Mrd. Euro, auch Sparkassen und Genossenschaftsbanken sind beteiligt. Diese hatte aber bereits nach der letzten Rettungsaktion klar gemacht, für weitere Hilfen nicht zur Verfügung zu stehen. Als privates Institut wäre bei einem Zusammenbruch der BdB rein formal - neben den Eigentümern - ohnehin in der Hauptverantwortung.

Finanzkreisen zufloge wäre eine Pleite der IKB mittlerweile günstiger, als die langwierige und aufwändige Rettung des Institut. Aus politischen Gründen sei dies jedoch nicht akzeptabel. "Es wäre ein sehr schlechtes Zeichen für die Märkte, wenn eine deutsche Bank pleite geht", sagte ein Insider.

€ 5 billion Taxpayer Baliout for West LB........€ 23 Billion "Outsourced" In Special Conduit......

Paulson, Bernanke, King & Co have every reason to be jealous....No sovereign wealth funds or orchestrated takeovers like CFC/BAC needed....We have the German taxpayer to bail this stupid bankers, the non existent boards & oversight out....Make sure you read the summary of German banking incompetence to get a grip how disastrous the situation is. I assume when you combine all the guarantees, fresh capital etc backed by the "German taxpayer" it would be easily enough to kick UBS from 3rd place in the ranking of the biggest write downs so far.....

Paulson, Bernanke, King & Co platzen sicher vor Neid.... Nur gut das wir keine Ölscheichs und Staatsfonds benötigen... Der deutsche Steuerzahler ist stets zu diensten um vollkommen amoklaufende Bänker, überforderte Aufsichtsräte und eine Bankenaufsicht die Ihren Namen nicht verdient hat rauszuhauen..... Wer sich das ganze Ausmaß ansehen möchte der sollte mal einen Blick auf die Zusammenfassung der Inkompetenz werfen. Ich vermute das wenn man alle von Staatsseite unterlegten Rettungspakete zusammenadiert es reichen sollte der in dieser traurigen Rangliste der UBS konkurrenz zu machen .

West LB

The owners of WestLB AG have reached an agreement to ring-fence substantial risks in the Bank´s structured portfolios. Securities with a nominal volume of roughly € 23 billion will be ring-fenced off the Bank´s balance sheet in a special purpose vehicle.

The financing of the special purpose vehicle will be secured by a guarantee from the owners of up to € 5 billion to cover any payment defaults. The owners will meet any possible losses from these securities portfolios in line with their shareholdings in WestLB up to an amount of € 2 billion, in compliance with their statement of January 20, 2008. Any further losses up to € 3 billion will be borne by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia

West LB

Die Eigentümer der WestLB AG haben beschlossen, die Bank von wesentlichen Risiken aus ihren strukturierten Portfolien zu befreien. Dazu werden die Papiere in einem Volumen von etwa nominal 23 Mrd. € in einer Zweckgesellschaft außerhalb der Bank gebündelt

Die Finanzierung der zu gründenden Zweckgesellschaft wird durch eine Garantie der Eigentümer für tatsächliche Zahlungsausfälle in Höhe von bis zu 5 Mrd. € bgesichert. Die Eigentümer tragen etwaige Verluste aus diesen Wertpapierportfolien entsprechend ihren Anteilen an der WestLB bis zur Höhe von 2 Mrd. € in Erfüllung ihrer Erklärung vom 20.1.2008. Darüber hinaus gehende Verluste von bis zu 3 Mrd. € werden vom Land NRW getragen

Quote December West LB related to the SIV / Zitat Dezember West LB

“We are also convinced that the assets that Kestrel and Harrier have could be more highly valued, but that the market is not ready for that.”

LOL!!!!

WestLB Owners Agree to Bailout as Bank Seeks a Merger Bloomberg

Steuerzahler muss für WestLB-Rettung bluten FT Deutschland

More German Bailouts Under Way ... West LB Needs At Least € 2 billion

What a surprise...... Düsseldorf seems to be the capital of banking incompetence in Germany. West LB & IKB two of the biggest casualties have their headquarter located there. Unlike in the US we don´t need the Petro or Sovereign Wealth Fund Dollars. We have the German taxpayer on the hook once again for the West LB who is in different ways owned through several state or municipal entities ( see West LB Factsheet ). If you add Sachsen LB to the bailout list we are easily at amounts that exceed € 10 billion taxpayers money and this exposure is still rising......

Welch Überraschung........ Düsseldorf ist unzweifelhalft die Hauptstadt in Sachen deutscher Bankeninkompetenz. Neben der West LB hat auch die IKB haben dort Ihren Hauptsitz. Während die US Banken um Petro $ und Staatsfons buhlen muß können sich diese Institute der Hilfe des deutschen Steuerzahlers sicher sein. Wenn man jetzt die Sachsen LB hinzuzieht bewegen wir uns jetzt schon locker im zweistelligen Mrdbereich an fehlgeleiteter Steuergelder die der Inkompetenz, dem Größenwahn einiger Provinzbänker und einer komplett überforderten Aufsicht (Aufsichtsrat, Bafin, Ministerium usw) geschuldet sind. Dummerweise ist das noch lange nicht das Ende der Fahnenstange.....

The entire debacle is becoming a real joke when you review their slogan when it comes to the problem sector SIV/conduits that is causing the largest part ( on top of trading losses, bad debt etc ) of the problem ( see WestLB, HSH Nordbank Bail Out $15 Billion of SIVs )...."Premier Structured Finance House - Our Core business" ....

Das ganze wird schon fast wieder komisch wenn man sich den Slogan der gerade den problembehafteten Sektor in den Worten der Wets LB beschreibt ( siehe WestLB, HSH Nordbank Bail Out $15 Billion of SIVs ) "Premier Structured Finance House - Our Core Business"

On top of this the biggest Landesbank the LBBW is also eating losses of around € 1.7 billion related to subprime and SIV/conduits. But they are at least strong enough to survive this without new capital.

Die Meldung das die LBBW ebenfalls 1,7 Mrd an Abschreibungen im Zusammenhang mit Ihrem Ausflug in die schöne neue Welt der ausserbilanzlichen Zweckgemeinschaften & US Hypotheken verloren hat sollte zumindest am Rande erwähnt werden. Immer verkraften die das ohne neue Hilfe des Steuerzahlers. Bleibt zu hoffen das dies auch zukünftig so bleiben wird

Quote December West LB related to the SIV / Zitat Dezember West LB

“We are also convinced that the assets that Kestrel and Harrier have could be more highly valued, but that the market is not ready for that.”

WestLB Expects EU1 Billion Loss for 2007, Will Raise Capital Bloomberg

West LB’s “non-permanent” writedowns FT Alphaville

WestLB ringt um frisches Kapital FT

Der West LB droht ein Milliardenverlust FAZ

Kapitalspritze und Stellenabbau Manager Magazin

Fed, ECB, Central Banks Coordinate to Add Liquidity

Another attempt to unwind the liquidity issue. They will have a problem if this won´t work......When i look at the collateral that they are accepting i can smell a rat......

Ein neuer und koordinierter Ansatz um die Liquiditätskrise zu lösen. Sicherlich die bisher mit Abstand vielversprechenste Idee. Sollte selbst diese Herangehensweise nicht helfen haben die Zentralbanken wohl ein Problem.......Wenn ich mir die neuen Kriterien für die zu hinterlegenden Papiere angucke kann man schon auf den Gedanken kommen das hier alle guten Vorsätze über Bord geworfen worden sind.......

Fear at the Fed from Floyd Norris NYT (hat tip to Calculated Risk)
...The Fed will lend money to banks based on almost any asset they own, even ones that are not liquid at all. That will include some of the more exotic loans and securities out there.

How much will the Fed lend against illiquid assets? It has a public list, already in use in discount window lending. You will note that it allows the lending of up to 85 percent of the face value of AAA-rated collateralized mortgage obligations, if there is no observable market value. There are some C.M.O.’s out there that have not yet been downgraded but that might not bring that much in a sale.

I’d love to see which assets are pledged, and how much the Fed lends against them. But the Fed won’t disclose those facts. Nor will it let us know which banks borrow using the new facility.

The Fed's New Auction System Minyanville´s Mr. Practical via Mish

So the Fed is considering a “new auction system”. Essentially, what the Fed is doing is taking the stigma away from the discount window--the Fed will lend directly to banks and the banks don’t have to tell anybody. Theoretically, the Fed could make these quiet loans for indefinite periods, thus giving banks more permanent capital (it’s really credit, but banks call it capital).

Waldman

...this is a bailout,. Nearly all government bailouts take the form of subsidized loans, extending credit at low rates to counterparties or against collateral for which the market would have demanded a high premium. That is precisely what the TAF will do. The Fed's press release claims, of course, that loans will only be available to "sound" banks, and that they will be "fully collateralized". But no one who can get the same deal from private markets will use this facility. The need for the program arises because private markets are skeptical about the soundness of counterparties and the quality of the assets they have to offer as collateral. The Fed hints at this when it mentions the "wide variety of collateral" that can be used to secure loans. You can bet that whatever it is private lenders are eschewing will be pledged as collateral to the Fed under TAF. The Fed is going to bear private risk that the market refuses to. That is a bailout.

Felix Salmon

to give you an idea of what the Fed will lend, consider a AAA-rated subprime-backed CDO – the kind of thing which is causing billions of dollars in losses all over the financial system. If the CDO has a market price, the Fed will lend up to 98% of that price if it's a short-term CDO, up to 96% if it's medium-term, and up to 93% if it's long-term.

But what if the CDO is completely illiquid, and you can't find a price for it at all? No worries, the Fed will still accept it as collateral, and lend up to 85% of par value. (There's an interesting thought experiment here: what happens if a long-term CDO has a market value of, say, 90 cents on the dollar? In that case, an illiquid version of that CDO would actually be worth more to the Fed than the liquid version.)

Do keep on looking down that list, though: it turns out that banks can even put up as collateral subprime credit-card receivables – they don't even need a AAA rating.

Yves from Naked Capitalism Maybe the Real Reason for the Central Bank (Especially the Fed's) Actions Wednesday has also a very good summary

Yyes von Naked Capitalism hat mit Maybe the Real Reason for the Central Bank (Especially the Fed's) Actions Wednesday ein weitere erstklassige Zusammenfassung an den Start gebracht

Now the roundtrip to the official press releases.

Nun zu den offiziellen Presseerklärungen

BOE
The total size of reserves offered in the operations on 18 December and on 15 January will be raised from £2.85 billion to £11.35 billion, of which £10bn will be offered at the 3-month maturity.

The Bank will accept a wider range of high quality securities as collateral against funds advanced at the 3-month maturity. The additional categories of eligible collateral are:

• Bonds issued by sovereigns rated Aa3/AA- or above (in addition to those currently eligible), subject to settlement constraints.
  
• Bonds issued by G10 government agencies guaranteed by national governments, rated AAA.
  
• Conventional debt security issues of the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, the Federal National Mortgage Corporation and the Federal Home Loan Banking system, rated AAA.
  
• AAA-rated tranches of UK, US and EEA asset-backed securities (ABS) backed by credit cards; and AAA-rated tranches of UK and EEA prime residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS).
  
• Covered bonds rated AAA.

BOC Part 1 & BOC
Expansion of List of Securities Eligible as Collateral for Use Under Bank of Canada Standing Liquidity Facility

Under its Standing Liquidity Facility (SLF), the Bank of Canada is prepared to provide liquidity on a daily basis to financial institutions that participate directly in the payments systems operated by the Canadian Payments Association. Loans made by the Bank of Canada must be fully collateralized.

In the context of the ongoing review of the Bank of Canada's collateral policy, begun in the spring of 2007, the Bank has decided to broaden the range of securities acceptable as collateral for use under the SLF to include (i) certain types of asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) sponsored by banks and (ii) U.S. Treasuries.

By the end of March 2008, the Bank will expand the list of eligible securities to include certain types of Canadian dollar-denominated ABCP that meet the following general criteria: are bank-sponsored, are covered by a liquidity provision that meets global standards, and are backed by traditional assets of an acceptable credit quality. In addition, higher standards of disclosure and additional credit ratings will be required. Asset-backed commercial paper backed by collateralized debt obligations and other highly-structured assets will not be considered at this time.

Over the next two months, the Bank will consult with financial institutions and other interested parties on the terms and conditions that will apply to ABCP as collateral. By the end of March 2008, the Bank will announce the terms and conditions regarding the use of ABCP as collateral, including the margins that will be applied. The arrangements for accepting U.S. Treasuries as collateral are expected to be completed by mid-2008.

Fed

Under the Term Auction Facility (TAF) program, the Federal Reserve will auction term funds to depository institutions against the wide variety of collateral that can be used to secure loans at the discount window. All depository institutions that are judged to be in generally sound financial condition by their local Reserve Bank and that are eligible to borrow under the primary credit discount window program will be eligible to participate in TAF auctions. All advances must be fully collateralized. By allowing the Federal Reserve to inject term funds through a broader range of counterparties and against a broader range of collateral than open market operations, this facility could help promote the efficient dissemination of liquidity when the unsecured interbank markets are under stress.

Alternative Instruments for Open Marketand Discount Window Operations / Fed Page 43

Acceptable discount window collateral generally can best be described as any asset that can confidently be liquidated within a reasonable period of time at the value at which it is accepted.As a general rule, the greater the level of risk associated with a certain type of underlying collateral, the lower the (lendable) valuation assigned to the collateral. Accurately measured, the margins or haircuts used in the valuation process should reflect the true relative risks of the various asset types, and they should contribute to relative asset price neutrality across the broad spectrum of assets deemed eligible for collateral.

Each TAF auction will be for a fixed amount, with the rate determined by the auction process (subject to a minimum bid rate). The first TAF auction of $20 billion is scheduled for Monday, December 17, with settlement on Thursday, December 20; this auction will provide 28-day term funds, maturing Thursday, January 17, 2008. The second auction of up to $20 billion is scheduled for Thursday, December 20, with settlement on Thursday, December 27; this auction will provide 35-day funds, maturing Thursday, January 31, 2008. The third and fourth auctions will be held on January 14 and 28, with settlement on the following Thursdays. The amounts of those auctions will be determined in January. The Federal Reserve may conduct additional auctions in subsequent months, depending in part on evolving market conditions.

ECB

The Eurosystem shall conduct two US dollar liquidity-providing operations, in connection with the US dollar Term Auction Facility, against ECB-eligible collateral for a maturity of 28 and 35 days ECB Eligibility Criteria Collateral The submission of bids will take place on 17 and 20 December 2007 for settlement on 20 and 27 December 2007, respectively. The operational details can be obtained from the ECB’s website (www.ecb.europa.eu). The US dollars will be provided by the Federal Reserve to the ECB, up to $20 billion, by means of a temporary reciprocal currency arrangement (swap line).

SNB $ 4 billion

UK Update & BOE Spin

Mid September Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England said this ...

Mitte September Tagen hatte Mervyn King, the governor of the Bank of England folgendes zu sagen .....

In an unusual public display of discord, the British central bank criticized other central banks yesterday for injecting cash into the financial system to help stabilize credit markets, saying that such a policy amounted to a bailout of investors who made bad decisions.

The main thrust of his written testimony to Parliament, however, was a sharp warning about “moral hazard” — a term used to describe the downside of policies that effectively rescue investors when their bets turn out wrong.

“The provision of such liquidity support undermines the efficient pricing of risk by providing ex-post insurance for risky behavior,” Mr. King wrote. “That encourages excessive risk-taking and sows the seeds of a future crisis.”

Too bad that everything he has said has been proven dead wrong ( in the case of Northern Rock he flip flopped within 48 hours) and he often did the exact opposite of what he was proposing. Welcome to the world of "respectable" central bankers.......Now move on to todays headlines......

Zu dumm nur das er bereist wenige Wochen um im Fall von Northern Rock nach wenigen Tagen in allen Bereichen eingeknickt ist und das oftmals das genaue Gegenteil praktiziert hat. Willkommen im Club der "ehrenwerten" Zentralbänker............ Hier ein weiteres Beispiel Wolfgang Münchau: Entzauberung einer Zentralbank

Is Britain's economy heading for the perfect storm?

UK's Northern Rock could be nationalized: report

U.K. House Prices Fall the Most Since December 2006, HBOS Says

U.K. Consumer Confidence Falls Most Since 2004

Lenders 'must prepare for worst'

Freddie Mac's Accounting Evokes Shades of Enron: Jonathan Weil

It´s no surprise some call them "Phony Mae and Fraudie Mac".... Just in time Fannie is also out with some news. Fannie Mae Cutting Dividend 30 Percent, Selling $7 Billion in Preferred Stock to Raise Capital

Sie werden nicht umsonst auch "Phony Mae and Fraudie Mac"genannt....... Passend hierzu ist auch Fannie mit einer Meldung draussenFannie Mae Cutting Dividend 30 Percent, Selling $7 Billion in Preferred Stock to Raise Capital

Dec. 5 (Bloomberg ) -- You have to wonder if a company is playing games when its earnings hinge on predictions no mere mortal is capable of making. That's one of Enron Corp.'s great lessons. And it's one that Freddie Mac investors might heed now.

Before it collapsed in 2001, Enron recorded large profits by estimating the values of its future cash flows from energy contracts that extended 20 years or longer. It then booked those amounts as current earnings. Even if Enron's executives had been acting in good faith, which they weren't, the forecasts they made weren't humanly possible.

Freddie's results depend on similar predictions, with a twist. The Mclean, Virginia-based company is using far-out forecasts of future cash flows to avoid recognizing large losses in its net income and capital. To believe Freddie's financial statements, you must believe the government-sponsored mortgage financier can make prognostications about its cash flows and debt issuances as long as 26 years from now.

Here's how the accounting works. Freddie's Sept. 30 balance sheet shows $4.3 billion of pent-up losses on derivatives called cash-flow hedges. Companies use these side bets to guard against interest-rate fluctuations on, for example, variable-rate debt.

Changes in the hedges' values don't hit net income immediately. Instead, they go into a line in shareholder equity called accumulated other comprehensive income, or AOCI. From there, they are released gradually into net income as payments come due.

Doesn't Count
These losses also don't count in the primary gauge the government uses to measure Freddie's capital, the financial cushion that helps any company absorb losses. Had Freddie counted them in net income, it would have fallen $3.7 billion short of its minimum capital requirement at the end of the third quarter.

Freddie says it has closed out almost all its cash-flow hedge positions, meaning the losses are now fixed. It says about 70 percent of its AOCI will be released into earnings over the next five years. The rest will take longer.

So what's getting hedged? Many of the hedged items don't exist yet. That's because they are ``forecasted transactions,'' primarily future issues of debt. The company says it has hedged the cash-flow risks on such deals as far out as 2033.

Under the accounting rules for derivatives, a future deal must be ``probable'' to qualify as a hedged transaction. So must the deal's terms, such as size and timing. This is where the forecasts get tricky.

Think Back
Consider how hard it would have been for a company in 1981 to envision and hedge its cash-flow risks on a debt sale it thought back then that it would make in 2007.

``Who could have predicted the Internet being where it is today?'' Ketz says. ``Who could predict that China would be the economic power that it is? Even in the U.S., the decline of, say, General Motors -- I don't think anyone would have predicted that in 1981. These are structural changes that affect the society and economy, and they can affect the cash flows that occur.''

Predictions even a few years out are tough. Will the next president be a Democrat friendly to Freddie and Fannie Mae, or a Republican who's not? How much more will home prices fall in the next year? Where will interest rates be? And wouldn't these developments affect Freddie's business and plans?

Consider the History
A Freddie spokeswoman, Sharon McHale, says the company knows its forecasted transactions are probable because it ``has a history of issuing significant amounts of debt instruments, well in excess of amounts hedged.'' The mortgages and mortgage securities it purchases stretch over 15 to 30 years, she notes, while the longest maturity for Freddie's debt is 10 years. Therefore, ``we know there is a need for debt issuances in the future to fund existing and future mortgage securities that have not fully prepaid prior to their stated maturity.''

Still, knowing the need will exist isn't the same as knowing what the terms and risks will be.

Judging by Freddie's $34.6 billion of so-called core capital at Sept. 30, which was about $600 million above the government-set minimum, Freddie already was adequately capitalized. And by keeping its $4.3 billion of losses in the AOCI holding tank, Freddie is signaling that a like amount of benefits will materialize in years to come.

Nonetheless, after posting a $2 billion net loss for the third quarter, Freddie last week had to raise $6 billion through a preferred-stock offering and cut its dividend by half to shore up its dwindling capital. That undercuts the notion that its cash-flow hedges are working properly. If they were, then Freddie should be getting around $4.3 billion of gains over the next 26 years. So there would be no need for a capital infusion.

Yet there was such a need. And until just recently, Freddie didn't see it coming. The lesson for investors: Freddie's crystal ball is no better than yours.

> Got gold......?