RBS

We were pleasantly surprised earlier today when we discovered that the "head of European rates" at RBS, or as it is better known in the US as CRT LLC (see here, here and here), Harvinder Sian, not only sends out mollifying notes to clients with extended references to "excitable" blogs such as Zero Hedge, but that apparently cost-cutting measures have forced RBS to cancel their over-budget Dow Jones wire service.

In a report "Predicting Sovereign Debt Crises: 2010 Update" RBS' Timothy Ash is the latest one to chime in on the sovereign risk theme, a topic that has been prevalent ever since Bernanke did the great private-to-public risk bait and switch, which in turn was followed to a great extent by all the countries in the world. Soon, in addition to a risk to the bottom in carry trades, and inflation expectations, we will see a risk acceleration, once countries realize the fringe benefits arising from being the first defaulting sovereign in a global moral hazard climate.

New developments in that "other" German automotive soap opera. Reuters is reporting that the most insanely leveraged behemoth of an auto-supplier, Continental-Schaeffler has finally managed to close on the terms of a critical $17 billion deal, a critical step which will make the biggest M&A blunder in the last decade (tiny ball-bearing maker Schaeffler's purchase of much, much larger and much more indebted auto supplier conglomerate Continental).

Soon coming to a certain Greenwich marina corporate campus near you.

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As CNBC makes fun of the G20 "fair with jesters and jugglers" in London, things are, in reality, getting serious. Just out of Foxnews:

Developing story, but with such blockbusters as Lyondell and Continental AG one had to expect they would pull the plug sooner or later.

Developing Story:

Wow, this is just scary. If this happened in the U.S. you would see riots on Wall Street.

Royal Bank of Scotland to see bonuses drop from 2.5 billion pounds to 175 million total.
There will be no cash payments for future RBS bonuses, and will instead take form of bond payments to be made in 3 annual payments. Lastly, there will be a clawback.

Probably not that surprising after posting the "biggest ever loss reported by a U.K. company" of $41 billion. Biggest shareholder, the United Kingdom Government with 22.8 billion shares, can not be happy with an $8 billion + loss in 6 hours of trading. Paulson, with 142 million shares short, is very happy.

Probably not that surprising after posting the "biggest ever loss reported by a U.K. company" of $41 billion. Biggest shareholder, the United Kingdom Government with 22.8 billion shares, can not be happy with an $8 billion + loss in 6 hours of trading. Paulson, with 142 million shares short, is very happy.