Cafe Talk | Talking Points Memo | Meanwhile, across the pond this evening:

Meanwhile, across the pond this evening:

By Lamont - September 28, 2008, 8:56PM

Fortis Gets EU11.2 Billion Rescue From Governments (Update1)
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg)

-- Fortis, the largest Belgian financial-services firm, received an 11.2 billion-euro ($16.3 billion) rescue from Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg after investor confidence in the bank evaporated last week.

Bradford & Bingley Set for Nationalization, Takeover (Update1)
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg)

-- Bradford & Bingley Plc, Britain's biggest lender to landlords, may be taken over by another bank or nationalized today under a U.K. government-backed plan to protect 21 billion pounds ($39 billion) of customer deposits.

Comments (5)

At the Financial Times....

Investor confidence likely to remain fragile
By Aline van Duyn and Michael Mackenzie in New York
Published: September 28 2008 19:34

The tentative deal reached on Sunday on the US government’s $700bn financial rescue plan could give some firmer footing to equity markets across the world, but investor confidence is likely to remain extremely fragile.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8f3ae420-8d88-11dd-83d5-0000779fd18c.html

European central banks cut sales of gold
Published: September 28 2008 18:30

As central banks sell less, investors are rushing into bullion-backed exchange traded funds to such an extent that some analysts refer to the ETFs as the “people’s central bank” because they are now bigger than most countries’ official reserves.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/38c8d46c-8d7e-11dd-83d5-0000779fd18c.html

Crazy scramble to hire architects of a toxic industry
By Tony Jackson
Published: September 28 2008 17:05

perhaps the most bizarre single instance is the scramble to hire employees of Lehman Brothers. Barclays is shelling out $2.5bn in bonuses to Lehmanites in New York, and Nomura up to $1bn in London.

Yet those are the same people who drove their former employer into bankruptcy. Surely this is bonkers?
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/5533fb48-8d76-11dd-83d5-0000779fd18c.html

Posted by Lamont
September 28, 2008 9:14 PM | Reply | Permalink

Fortis: Belgium acts to prevent financial group's collapse• Governments agree to pour €11bn into Fortis
• Fruitless weekend effort to find commercial buyer
The Guardian, Monday September 29 2008

Capping a weekend of non-stop emergency meetings to decide Fortis's fate, Yves Leterme, the Belgian prime minister, said Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg would pour €11.2bn (£9bn) into the beleaguered financial services group to try to prevent it becoming the first big casualty of the credit crunch on the continent.
Jean-Claude Trichet, the European central bank chief, and Neelie Kroes, the Dutch EU commissioner for competition, went to the Belgian parliament for crisis talks with the Belgian, Dutch, and Luxembourg governments and central bankers last night, amid fears that a Fortis collapse would send shockwaves across the EU.

Belgian, Dutch and French media reported that various rescue bids were being considered by BNP Paribas of France or ING and Rabobank of the Netherlands, all of which came to nothing.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2008/sep/29/insurance.europeanbanks

GOP conservatives are not going to love this one, as apparently Paribas is hoping that some U.S. entities will be more of a bargain than Fortis:

BNP Paribas to look at distressed US banks
By Renée Schultes, efinancialnews
25 Sep 2008

Baudouin Prot, chief executive of BNP Paribas, has told a conference in Paris this morning that the French bank, which is emerging relatively unscathed from the ongoing crisis, is interested in distressed US banking assets and will be looking at deals on an opportunistic basis.
Prot: "If BNP has opportunities to buy distressed banks through the F.D.I.C. process at the kind of prices you'd get, especially if you have the deposits and cherry pick on the asset side, that's something you have to look at. We'll look at it and act in a disciplined way."

http://www.efinancialnews.com/investmentbanking/index/content/2451960886

Posted by Lamont
September 28, 2008 10:05 PM | Reply | Permalink

With Bradford and Bingley, the loans and mortgages are being nationalized, but the savings and branches are being sold to a Spanish bank, according the the BBC:

Spanish bank giant to acquire B&B
Sunday, 28 September 2008 23:59 UK

Santander will take over the £20bn savings business and branch network of troubled Bradford & Bingley, the Spanish banking giant has said.

Treasury officials and bankers are putting the final touches to the deal, says BBC business editor Robert Peston.

A formal announcement is expected early on Monday morning, which will also confirm that B&B's £50bn in mortgages and loans is being nationalised.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7641055.stm

Also these other bits of news on the BBC site:

Spanish house sales drop sharply
26 September 2008 10:19 UK

Spain's 10-year property boom has turned to bust this year
Spanish house sales slumped by 26.3% in the year to July, according to official figures.

Mortgage lending plunged by 33.2% to 10.2bn euros ($14.9bn; £8.1bn), said Spain's National Statistics Institute.

The credit crunch has led to a property slump in Spain and many economists say it is on the verge of recession.

The property market has been the main driver of economic growth over the past decade, but analysts say Spanish house prices are still up to 30% overvalued.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7637319.stm

Bank giant HSBC axes 1,100 jobs
Friday, 26 September 2008 07:34 UK

HSBC hopes the cuts will allow it to weather the storm on financial markets
Banking giant HSBC is to axe 1,100 jobs worldwide, blaming the current financial turmoil for the decision.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7637071.stm

Posted by Lamont
September 28, 2008 10:23 PM | Reply | Permalink

Don't worry dude. It's all good.

At least til Tuesday.

And besides, so what if a few banks crash, eh?

Besides, it must just be a nefarious plan by Bush.

Rec'd. ;-)

Posted by quinn esq
September 29, 2008 12:10 AM | Reply | Permalink

But, now the Dutch own 45% pf that company. Are we going to own all these companies we are bailing out? I don't think anyone has said that is part of the deal.

Posted by JasonEverettMiller
September 29, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink

Meanwhile, across the pond this evening:

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