It looks like Fortis is going down! Fortis has $540 billion in assets Its One of Europe's largest banks!
This is getting really ugly folks. England's B&B also looks like its toast. Blowups are happening everywhere!
Its hard to keep up with everything.
"BELGIUM’s Fortis is this weekend poised to become the first large continental bank to fall victim to the credit crunch, as the global chaos continues with Bradford & Bingley and American savings giant Wachovia both teetering on the brink.
The Belgian central bank and the country’s regulator are paving the way for a bailout of the huge banking and insurance group, which has a £540 billion balance sheet and a market value of £12 billion.
In Britain, the fate of Bradford & Bingley will be decided today. Fren-etic talks between the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the government have been taking place this weekend to save the troubled mortgage bank.
Santander, the Spanish bank, is in negotiations to buy B&B, but it is insisting on a stringent set of conditions. The talks are being led by Anto-nio Horta-Osorio, chief executive of Santander’s UK bank, Abbey.
Another option being pursued by the government and the FSA is to carve up B&B. This would result in the sale of its £20 billion deposit business, its 197-strong branch network and its troubled mortgage book. These assets would be auctioned to the highest bidder.
But the government could still be left with the bulk of the £42 billion mortgage book, half of which is exposed to the buy-to-let market. One government adviser said: “What we have to do is find the best deal for the taxpayer.”
If no buyers come forward, B&B will be nationalised and broken up. However, while the fate of B&B offers a fascinating insight into the hardship faced by financial institutions, in terms of international significance the problems faced by Fortis are far more serious."
Fortis announced their own demise a few months ago. I am not surprised at all. Last year I was actually thinking for a moment to buy Fortis shares because they opened shops in Germany everywhere. So I thought they are expanding and making a whole lot of money. I didn't understand their business model so I didn't become a shareholder. Lucky me. :-)
The "big" Three are getting your money now aswell.... http://www.detnews.com/apps/ pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/AUTO01/809270425
Have they all lost their minds?
A lot of bucks to ship cars they have alredy developed from Europe to the US. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Corsa http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_fiesta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Agila
7 comments:
Oh Crap
It looks like Fortis is going down! Fortis has $540 billion in assets Its One of Europe's largest banks!
This is getting really ugly folks. England's B&B also looks like its toast. Blowups are happening everywhere!
Its hard to keep up with everything.
"BELGIUM’s Fortis is this weekend poised to become the first large continental bank to fall victim to the credit crunch, as the global chaos continues with Bradford & Bingley and American savings giant Wachovia both teetering on the brink.
The Belgian central bank and the country’s regulator are paving the way for a bailout of the huge banking and insurance group, which has a £540 billion balance sheet and a market value of £12 billion.
In Britain, the fate of Bradford & Bingley will be decided today. Fren-etic talks between the Bank of England, the Financial Services Authority and the government have been taking place this weekend to save the troubled mortgage bank.
Santander, the Spanish bank, is in negotiations to buy B&B, but it is insisting on a stringent set of conditions. The talks are being led by Anto-nio Horta-Osorio, chief executive of Santander’s UK bank, Abbey.
Another option being pursued by the government and the FSA is to carve up B&B. This would result in the sale of its £20 billion deposit business, its 197-strong branch network and its troubled mortgage book. These assets would be auctioned to the highest bidder.
But the government could still be left with the bulk of the £42 billion mortgage book, half of which is exposed to the buy-to-let market. One government adviser said: “What we have to do is find the best deal for the taxpayer.”
If no buyers come forward, B&B will be nationalised and broken up. However, while the fate of B&B offers a fascinating insight into the hardship faced by financial institutions, in terms of international significance the problems faced by Fortis are far more serious."
Sorry,
Link
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article4837674.ece
Fortis announced their own demise a few months ago. I am not surprised at all. Last year I was actually thinking for a moment to buy Fortis shares because they opened shops in Germany everywhere. So I thought they are expanding and making a whole lot of money. I didn't understand their business model so I didn't become a shareholder. Lucky me. :-)
John
Glad you avoided this train wreck. I am not as well versed on the European banks, but I knew this was a big one.
I wonder if this will effect DC and how they vote on the bailout.
The wheels have already fallen off the wagon. Maybe they will decide to let this crisis run its course and then pick up the pieces.
What is going on in the States?
The "big" Three are getting your money now aswell....
http://www.detnews.com/apps/
pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080927/AUTO01/809270425
Have they all lost their minds?
A lot of bucks to ship cars they have alredy developed from Europe to the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Corsa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_fiesta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Agila
Mat
Great question.
I think you are witnessing a total panic by the government as our economy heads straight into the toilet.
They continue to try and solve our problems by throwing money at it.
We should be spending money on long term solutions like creating jobs via infrastructure versus pissing money away on bankers and bad companies!
Lots going on behind the scenes in DC. I will have a post up later.
The bailout is nowhere close to being passed.
I will have a an update shortly
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