"Moody’s downgrades credit ratings of 15 major banks" by Peter Eavis and Susanne Craig | New York Times, June 22, 2012
NEW YORK — The credit ratings of 15 major banks were slashed Thursday, the latest setback for an industry grappling with global economic turmoil and weak profits.
Related: Big Banks Are Booming
Yeah, profit levels are at their highest in five years and the NYT is crying weak profits.
What a POS paper!
The decision by Moody’s Investors Service to cut banks’ credit scores to new lows could further damage their bottom lines and unsettle markets even more.
Citigroup and Bank of America, which have struggled to fully recover from the financial crisis, were among the hardest hit. After two-notch downgrades, their credit ratings now stand just two levels above junk....
Yes, BILLIONS-PER-QUARTER is a real struggle!
Banks have struggled to improve their profits against the backdrop of the European sovereign debt crisis, a weak US economy, and new regulations.
Do I REALLY HAVE TO TYPE ANYTHING ANYMORE?
The downgrades may amplify their problems. With lower ratings, creditors could charge the banks more on their loans. Big clients may also move their business to less-risky companies, further crimping earnings. As bank profits falter, consumers could feel the pain. Companies often try to make up for lost revenue by passing costs on to customers. In the face of new regulations, banks have raised fees.
Oh, this is ALL ABOUT GOUGING the F*** out of you by crying POVERTY for the f***ing banks!!!
Moody’s downgrades are part of a broad effort to make its analysis more rigorous. During the financial crisis, Moody’s and rivals like Standard & Poor’s got black eyes for slapping high ratings on mortgage bonds that later imploded. Moody’s approach reflects its belief that large banks have fundamental weaknesses.
Yes, the RATINGS AGENCIES were PAID by the WALL STREET LOOTERS to rate the products and PULLED DOWN TREMENDOUS FEES while stamping AAA grades on sliced-up pieces of shit!
Now, bank executives will now try to convince their creditors and large customers that Moody’s has overreacted. The executives will probably highlight moves they have made since the crisis....
Moody’s remains concerned. It saw several weaknesses in the banks’ Wall Street operations, including their complexity and opacity. Moody’s highlighted a history of volatile profits and problems with risk management.
Moody’s mentioned the recent trading debacle at JPMorgan Chase. In May, the bank disclosed that a bet on financial instruments tied to corporate bonds had soured; those losses could reach $5 billion.
Try $9b, NYT.
The credit rating agency also noted the industry’s continued dependence on short-term loans to finance their Wall Street operations. This type of credit dried up quickly in the crisis, forcing them to borrow from the government.
Some banking experts welcomed the downgrades, saying the rating agencies are finally beginning to reflect the risks.
‘‘These downgrades are good news,’’ said Anat R. Admati, a professor of finance and economics at Stanford University.
‘‘Right now, their balance sheets are very fragile.’’
--more--"
Maybe AP will show some tough love:
"Bank downgrades could hurt loans, credit cards" by Pallavi Gogoi | Associated Press, June 23, 2012
NEW YORK — When a major bank’s credit rating is cut, it deals a psychological blow — to customers, the public, and financial markets.
SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!
So Thursday’s downgrading of 15 of the world’s largest banks is almost sure to cause wide concern. Most deposits are perfectly safe, but the downgrades could hurt people in more subtle ways: Banks may jack up fees and be reluctant to lend, which could affect mortgages, credit cards, and even the job market.
HERE WE GO AGAIN!!
The downgrades could eventually increase the banks’ cost of borrowing in financial markets because investors will demand more interest when they lend the banks money. With interest rates hovering near record lows, most analysts say the cost of borrowing will not be affected immediately. However, if the ratings remain at these levels and interest rates rise, banks will pay dearly.
I'm sorry, readers, but I CAN NO LONGER READ THIS SHIT!!!!!!!!!!
For now, investors are not worried. The stocks of downgraded banks rose Friday. Bank of America gained 1.5 percent, while JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley each rose 1.3 percent.
The downgrades also suck capital out of banks. That’s because all the large banks sell insurance to investors to protect them from losses on bonds in case of a default.
The downgrades will force banks to set aside billions of dollars in additional reserves because the debt they are insuring has become riskier. Each notch in the ratings scale triggers automatic requirements for additional money a bank must set aside in reserves.
Because of those requirements, the downgrades will funnel money into reserves and reduce the amount of capital that banks have to lend.
Related: Banks Reserve Profits For Themselve
Americans will experience it when they go to their banks for home mortgages, car loans and credit cards.
--more--"
At least the banks are showing you some sympathy:
"Bank of America, TD Bank, others agree to simplify list of fees" by Todd Wallack | Globe Staff, July 05, 2012
A growing number of banks and credit unions are creating short, easy-to-read summaries of their checking account fees, instead of forcing customers to wade through scores of pages of legal disclosures to find the charge for bouncing a check.
Just wondering WHY WE HAD TO DO THAT in the FIRST PLACE when the bank is supposed to be your friend (at least, that is what I have been told my whole life).
Citigroup is expected to announce this month that it will join more than a half-dozen financial institutions, including JP Morgan Chase and TD Bank, that have already adopted a version of a one-page disclosure form created last year by the Pew Charitable Trusts, a nonprofit based in Philadelphia. Bank of America, the largest bank in Massachusetts, confirmed it plans to introduce a similar summary later this year.
See: Globe Night at the Garden
Yup, TD Bank a THIEF just like the rest of them!
The changes come in response to complaints about rising fees and a tendency of banks to bury them in long, complex documents filled with hard-to-understand legal terms.
I can not imagine why they would want to do that, can you? Why would the bank BURY that kind of information?
Many customers learn of the fees, for everything from closing an account to getting a paper statement, only when they get hit with them.....
Pew has asked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the regulatory agency created by the Dodd-Frank financial reform law, to require all banks and credit unions to use a standardized summary of checking account fees — similar to the way food makers are required to display nutritional information.
But the American Bankers Association, a trade group in Washington, said a one-size-fits-all approach will not work since many banks combine checking accounts with other products, such as savings accounts and certificates of deposits.
“We think there needs to be flexibility,” said Nessa Feddis, an attorney with the bankers association.
Yes, BANKS NEED to have "flexibility" so they can RIP YOU OFF!!
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau declined to comment on whether it supports a standard summary for all checking account fees.
Martha Gibbs, a customer and retired teacher from Cambridge, said she was impressed with TD Bank’s new summary of checking fees when a reporter showed her a copy at a bank branch in Harvard Square. She said she never bothered to read through the thicket of disclosures she received when she opened her account a couple years ago.
“It makes a difference,” Gibbs said, “Make it simple.”
--more--"
Related: Not Such a Good Citizen
That's a bank for you.
