dimelab dimelab: shrinking the gap between talk and action.

Non-performing Topic in The Credit Debacle Catalog

non performance loan (3).

Mon 2010-08-16 13:54 EDT

Could The US Become Another Ireland? >> The Baseline Scenario

As Greece acts in an intransigent manner, refusing to act decisively despite deep fiscal difficulties, the financial markets look on Ireland all the more favorably. Ireland is seen as the poster child for prudent fiscal adjustment among the weaker eurozone countries...Ireland's perceived ``success'' is partly due to its draconian fiscal cuts...Ireland's difficulties arose because of a massive property boom financed by cheap credit from Irish banks...Today roughly 1/3 of the loans on the balance sheets of banks are non-performing or ``under surveillance''...The government...guaranteed all the liabilities of banks and then began injecting government funds...it is planning to buy the most worthless assets from banks and pay them government bonds in return. Ministers have also promised to recapitalize banks than need more capital. The ultimate result of this exercise is obvious: one way or another, the government will have converted the liabilities of private banks into debts of the sovereign (i.e., Irish taxpayers)...The government is gambling that GDP growth will recover to over 4% per year starting 2012 -- and they still plan further major expenditure cutting and revenue increasing measures each year until 2013...The latest round of bank bailouts (swapping bad debts for government bonds) dramatically exacerbates the fiscal problem...

Baseline Scenario; Becomes; Ireland.

naked capitalism Tue 2010-04-20 09:18 EDT

Three ways to keep NPLs down, recapitalize banks, and socialize losses all at the same time

Michael Pettis is out with another great piece on the likelihood that non-performing loans (NPLs) will rise in China when the present spate of malinvestment comes a-cropper. What caught my eye were his statements about the hidden ways in which government pays for bank recapitalization...

keep NPLs; naked capitalism; Recapitalize Banks; socializing losses; Time; way.

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis Sun 2010-02-07 18:15 EST

Nonperforming Loans in China Rise to "Trillions of Renminbi"

Inquiring minds are questioning the solvency of the Chinese banking system. Please consider China Defaulting Loans Soar, Insolvency Lawyer Says. Non-performing loans in China have risen into the ``trillions of renminbi'' because of poor lending practices, an insolvency lawyer said...The US, led by Hillary Clinton and president Obama, is putting enormous pressure on China to float the RMB, in expectation that it would rise and US exports would soar. I believe that if China floated the RMB on the Forex markets, it might crash.

China rises; Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis; nonperforming loans; renminbi; trillion.

Tue 2009-09-29 11:33 EDT

How Bad Will It Get?

In the two years since the crisis began, neither the Fed nor policymakers at the Treasury have taken steps to remove toxic assets from banks balance sheets. The main arteries for credit still remain clogged despite the fact that the Bernanke has added nearly $900 billion in excess reserves to the banking system. Consumers continue to reduce their borrowing despite historically low interest rates and the banks are still hoarding capital to pay off losses from non performing loans and bad assets. Changes in the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) rules for mark-to-market accounting of assets have made it easier for underwater banks to hide their red ink, but, eventually, the losses have to be reported. The wave of banks failures is just now beginning to accelerate. It should persist into 2011. The system is gravely under-capitalized and at risk...The economy cannot recover without a strong consumer. But consumers and households have suffered massive losses and are deeply in debt. Credit lines have been reduced and, for many, the only source of revenue is the weekly paycheck...The current recession has exposed the fault-lines dividing the classes in the US. Neither party represents working people. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are supportive of "social engineering for the rich"; regressive taxation and economic policies which shift a greater portion of the wealth to the richest Americans. The question of inequality, which has grown to levels not seen since the Gilded Age, will dominate the national conversation as the recession deepens and more people slip from the ranks of the middle class...After Obama's stimulus runs out, consumer spending will again sputter and the economy will slide back into recession.

bad.