December 16, 2010

Don’t place the responsibility for the banks in hands proven irresponsible

Sir Wolfgang Münchau suggests shifting the responsibility for all systemically relevant banks to the EU, “How a mini fiscal union could end instability”, December 13. Since all European banks have anyhow been mostly ruled by the Basel Committee that seems to make a lot of sense… that is until you realize that what most turned these systemically relevant banks into monstrous systemic risks, were the systemically dangerous regulations of the Basel Committee, and which allowed banks to leverage 62.5 to 1 when investing in triple-A rated securities or lending to Greece or Irish banks. In fact that is when you even start to be tempted about thinking of shifting the responsibility for your banks to the most local of your local authorities.