AP Emergency meeting held to discuss Lehman Brothers http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080913/lehman_meeting.html?.v=2 Saturday September 13, 11:43 am ET By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer Federal officials meet with financial institutions to discuss Lehman Brothers WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Federal Reserve Bank of New York held an emergency meeting Friday night with top Washington policymakers and major financial institutions to discuss the future of Lehman Brothers. The meeting, which was attended by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, was held at the offices of New York Federal Reserve Bank president Timothy Geithner. The meeting was confirmed by Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith. Smith refused to disclose what financial institutions participated in the meeting or whether the group had reached any conclusion over how to resolve the crisis facing Lehman Brothers. She said that in addition to Paulson and Geithner, Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, was in attendance for the discussions. The private sector participants were described by Smith only as "senior representatives of major financial institutions." However, the Wall Street Journal reported on its website that this group included Morgan Stanley chief executive John Mack and Merrill Lynch chief executive John Thain among others. Earlier in the day a person familiar with Paulson's thinking said that the treasury secretary was opposed to the use of any government money to bail Lehman Brothers out of its financial difficulties. Lehman Brothers, the nation's No. 4 investment bank, was racing to find a buyer two days after it laid out a restructuring plan it said would raise badly needed money it lost on bad bets in real estate holdings. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of negotiations, said Paulson believes the Lehman situation is different in two critical aspects from the government-assisted rescue of Bear Stearns back in March. This person said that Paulson believed that financial markets have been aware for some time of the difficulties facing Lehman and have had time to prepare and the Fed is now allowing investment banks in need of emergency loans to borrow directly from the Fed just as commercial banks can do.
The Kin, I do believe you are correct, the "President's Working Group on screwing the average taxpayer" errr, I mean "President's working group on financial markets" aka PPT did appear to meet on Friday. We can only wonder where we the taxpayers will lose! -gastropod
Big meeting in Europe also: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1aaab1ac-8253-11dd-a019-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1 EU bankers assess exposure to credit crisis By Tony Barber in Brussels Published: September 14 2008 13:12 | Last updated: September 14 2008 13:12 The worldâs banks received a warning at the weekend that they would need to raise hundreds of billions of dollars more in fresh capital to cover losses from the global credit crisis. Mario Draghi, governor of the Bank of Italy, said banks had raised $350bn since the turmoil on world financial markets erupted 13 months ago, and they would need to raise an equivalent amount in the future. Mr Draghi is the head of the Financial Stability Forum, the group of major national financial authorities established in 1999 to strengthen financial markets supervision after the Asian and Russian crises of 1997-98. Speaking at a meeting of European Union finance ministers and central bank governors, Mr Draghi said it appeared certain that the credit crisis would plunge more banks into difficulties, spurring a long process of consolidation in the banking sector. âVarious banks, within a sector that is basically well-capitalised overall, will be in difficulty,â Mr Draghi said. âThe conclusion is that there will be a series of consolidations in the world banking system. We have seen some already, but we are a long way from seeing the end of this.â He estimated that banks across the world had already suffered losses and writedowns to the tune of almost $500bn as a result of the market turmoil. EU-based banks account for about one-third of this sum, EU officials said. EU central bankers were in touch with banks in their home countries at the weekend to assess their exposures to Lehman Brothers, the New York investment bank that fell into deep trouble last week, officials said. Mr Draghi said banks in the 15-nation eurozone appeared to be at less risk than some rivals from the credit market turmoil, which EU policymakers blame largely on questionable lending practices in the US and some emerging markets. âWithin the euro area the situation in the banking system is different. It is not as stressed,â Mr Draghi told reporters. âOur banks, the Italians, but the others as well in the eurozone, are banks that are not very exposed to these activities in some other parts of the world. They seem to be feeling the effects of this crisis to a lesser degree.â Echoing a call from EU finance ministers, Mr Draghi said banks and other financial institutions must restore trust in each other by not concealing unpleasant facts about their condition. âThe less transparent the banking system, the more the market will require capital,â he said. EU officials said the banking industry had made a useful start in July by publishing statistics on their involvement in the securitisation market. By the end of October, banks are likely to adopt guidelines for issuing clear, comparable data when they publish their results for the first quarter of 2009. âTransparency is improving,â Christine Lagarde, Franceâs finance minister, told reporters. âIt is vital to enhance work on the valuation of assets, in particular where the current market is illiquid.â
Both, this thread is to satirical remind all the ETers whom 2 years ago swore on the bible that there was no such thing as the PPT.
The "PPP" seems to be knee deep in shit, and they cannot find a way out.. The Fed will now take other assets of collateral. What's next? Will they start taking cars, homes (wait, they did this one), Wii's, and timeshare's too? How about rubber duckies? I can see the sec. now with a rubber ducky in his hand announcing this.. Geez... What has the world come too....
At least people are less and less buying into these Fed shenanigans. Now when the Fed orchestrates what they hope will be a market saving moment - we are getting <b><i>some</i></b> yawns. paysense