Last Friday, California state regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) became the receiver. Its stock price had lost over 80 percent of its market value over the prior year; $150 billion of its $175 billion in deposits were uninsured, either because they exceeded the $250,000 FDIC cap and/or they were foreign deposits. The bank was effectively operating as a Wall Street IPO pipeline in drag as a federally-insured bank. The Federal Home Loan Bank of San Francisco had quietly been bailing it out – to the tune of $15 billion. Oh – and by the way – its primary regulator was the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. And while all of this hubris was occurring, the CEO of Silicon Valley Bank, Gregory Becker, was sitting on the Board of Directors of his regulator, the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
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Oh, and by the way, the Fed member banks in each of the 12 Federal Reserve Districts that can choose to be regulated by the Fed, literally own their regulator. That’s right, they own the stock in their regional Fed bank, which is a private institution, unlike the Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C. which is an “independent” federal agency. (See, for example, These Are the Banks that Own the New York Fed and Its Money Button.)
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Adding to the ongoing arrogance of the Fed, its Chairman, Jerome Powell, released a statement two minutes after the market closed yesterday, stating that “The events surrounding Silicon Valley Bank demand a thorough, transparent, and swift review…” So, once again, it’s decided to investigate itself. The Fed’s Vice Chairman for Supervision, Michael Barr, will oversee the investigation.
Tag: credit default swaps
How Wall Street Is Funding The Culture War
The leading right-wing pugilist against “critical race theory” is backed by Wall Street execs whose financial crisis crushed communities of color.
How Wall Street Is Funding The Culture War
If you’re kid is learning critical race theory, congratulations on them getting into law school! 🤡
Bipartisan Crypto Bill Is Congress Playing with Fire and Repeating the Mistakes of the Past: Another Financial Crash and More Industry Bailouts
After Crypto Money Piled into Campaign Coffers of Senators Lummis and Gillibrand, They Introduced a Sweetheart Legislative Bill for Crypto
By Pam Martens and Russ Martens: June 20 , 2022 ~
On June 7, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York who sits on the Senate Agriculture Committee which oversees commodities, and Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming who sits on the Senate Banking Committee which oversees Wall Street and trading, introduced a bill as an early Christmas present to the crypto industry. It carries the Alice in Wonderland title of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act.
After Crypto Money Piled into Campaign Coffers of Senators Lummis and Gillibrand, They Introduced a Sweetheart Legislative Bill for Crypto
Here’s why the Evergrande crisis is not China’s ‘Lehman moment’
Federal Regulators Have Gutted Safety and Soundness Rules for the Biggest Wall Street Banks
Federal Regulators Have Gutted Safety and Soundness Rules for the Biggest Wall Street Banks
Bottom line: federal regulators are as clueless today as they were in 2008 when it comes to the level of systemic risk these banks pose to the financial system of the United States. The only way to rein in that risk is to break up these banks and restore the Glass-Steagall Act. That would separate these casinos from the federally-insured, deposit-taking banks.
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Ms. Cat’s Chronicles 