September 30, 2013

“The Risky” borrowers, if only they knew, would envy like crazy the banks and “The Infallible”, their Basel Committee lapdog

Sir, Patrick Jenkins, reports “Watchdog to retreat from strict capital rules”. September 30. In it Stefan Ingves, the Swedish central banker who is the head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, is quoted opining that perhaps they should be softening the “tough capital rules on securitisation introduced four years ago”. Why do not the “risky” borrowers have a similar access to a regulatory lapdog?

The more the regulators soften the capital requirements for banks on whatever can be construed as belonging to “The Infallible”, the more will these directly discriminate against those already being discriminated against by banks and markets, on account of being perceived as “risky”, such as medium and small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups.

When the “risky” become “safe”, by means of being bundled up in securities, the profits of lowering the capital requirements for banks, goes almost entirely to the bundler and the banks. Why does not that profit go primarily to those being bundled? 

It just comes to show that the small and “risky” of the real economy, even though they have never ever caused a bank crisis, are just chicken shit in the eyes of regulators who just love to mingle with the AAAristocracy.