Bank of America

A day after the Lehman Repo 105 scandal erupted, one, just one bank stepped up and said it had never used Repo 105-type transactions. The bank was Goldman Sachs. Of course, Goldman's claim is completely useless without a context as the proper refusal would be for Goldman's counsel to say that the firm had not used anything "substantially similar" to a Repo 105. The difference between that and the verbatim phrasing is like night from day. But at least the soundbite chasers bought it, and the whole topic of Goldman and Repo 105 promptly died away. We'll let that be... for now. Yet one bank which not only has not provided voluntary disclosure, but which has now gotten itself bogged down in semantics, after recently speculation had emerged that BofA had used "substantially similar" devices to Repo 105. Today, BofA provided a response on the record as to whether it had (ab)used Repo 105s and it appears, that inasmuch the firm is unable to say no, the answer is a resounding yes.

Earlier today the FSA announced that in the first ever operation carried out between British regulators and the Serious Organized Crime Agency,"16 addresses have been searched this morning in London, the South East
and Oxfordshire in the FSA’s largest ever operation against insider
dealing." Furthermore, " Six
men including two senior city professionals at leading city
institutions and one city professional at a hedge fund have been
arrested on suspicion of being involved in a sophisticated and
long-running insider dealing ring." And what has just been announced by the BBC is that multi-billion hedge fund Moore Capital, run by billionaire Louis Bacon, is likely about to suffer the same fate as our very own Galleon.

From Bloomberg: "The Federal Reserve must disclose documents identifying financial firms that might have collapsed without the largest ever U.S. government bailout, a federal appeals court said." Next step for the Fed weasels - petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to completely trample America's constitution. In the meantime, Mark Pittman smiles from above as Satan reevaluates the amend and extend provisions of his affirmative covenants with the Fed.

Theflyonthewall.com, which is a news aggregator service (much like most of the blogosphere these days, but without the snarky commentary), and is hosted on Zero Hedge, has just seen a major driver of its business model cut off, after several banks just won an injunction that blocks Fly from notifying its clients when a bank may have issued a research event such as an Upgrade or, on those extremely rare occasions nowadays, Downgrade. The banks who feel violated by everyone getting access to information about their sellside detritus contemporaneously, not just wealthy accounts and wire services, are Barclays, Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley. As Bloomberg reports, "U.S. District Judge Denise Cote in New York today granted a request for an injunction sought by the three banks. They argued at a March trial that Theflyonthewall.com, a Summit, New Jersey- based firm with about 30 employees, wrongfully obtains and sells reports on changes to the banks’ stock evaluations." This is merely a case of picking on the weakest: the next ones to lose their First Amendment right will be, in order of importance, StreetAccount, Thomson Street Events, Briefing, and, ultimately Bloomberg. The reason: keep the market as two-tiered as possible so that clients of the above three banks (which list will likely expand promptly as more banks join in) have an upper hand over all the slower retail and algo operations. With this forced lag in information (which is a joke because anyone who cares, knows the second a research report goes public anyway), and with the ever increasing transaction times courtesy of nanosecond collocation facilities, soon the self-cannibalizing market will only rely on stealing money from those accounts who are still willing to participate in a market that is now split into two distinct groups: those who make money, and are clients of MS, ML and Lehman (and the rest of Wall Street), and everyone else. This is a huge hit for not just traditional media, but for the blogosphere as well, which revels in the freedom of not just ridiculing banks' (Merrill Lynch) upgrades of horrendously shitty companies (REITs), but enjoys doing so in real time. We expect that the next step is that any blog or medium that has any negative things to say about Merrill, MS or Barclays (pretty much most independent media), will be served with a summons as soon as any criticism is made public.

Sometimes I have to actually read articles twice, because it really seems that I have somehow missed the point the first time around. Well, on my third glance at this Bloomberg article, I still don't get it: SLM Sells Debt at Higher Interest Rate Than Students Pay

One of the world's largest pension funds is suing Bank of America for more than $90m over its 2008 takeover of Merrill Lynch, claiming the banking giant failed to disclose the full extent of losses at the US investment bank. It's about time pensions got tough, but is it too little, too late?

I have warned my readers about following myths and legends versus reality and facts several times in the past, particularly as it applies to Goldman Sachs and what I have coined "Name Brand Investing". Very recent developments from Senator Kaufman of Delaware will be putting the spit-shined patina of Wall Street's most powerful bank to the test, as it appears he ain't playin'. Here's the speech from the esteemed Senator from Delaware (yes, the most corporate friendly state in this country), complete with an analysis that you will NEVER see in the mainstream media!!!

In contrast to the cheery mood of the markets, the latest readings from consumers and small business owners indicate economic sentiment isn’t improving. This divergence has got the Wall Street scratching its collective head. In short, the disparity may be deciphered in one word – liquidity - which Wall Street has plenty of, while main street remains strapped.

If you’re of a certain age, chances are you remember exactly where you were when JFK was assassinated. Similarly, if you’re from Canada or the United States and have an even remote interest in hockey, it’s highly likely that you remember exactly where you were when ‘Sid the Kid’ scored the winning overtime goal in the Olympic gold medal game. These were both "significant events", albeit for different reasons. We wonder, however, if any of you recall where you were on September 18th, 2008? Do you remember that day? We can’t seem to recall it either, which is strange, because it was one of the most important days of the decade. October 7, 2008 is another day that should stick out in our memories, but we’re sure you don’t remember that day either – and we’re in the same boat. How is it, then, that we can’t recall where we were or what we were doing on the two days the entire financial system almost collapsed?!? It boggles our mind. These dates should have been emphasized in every "review of the decade" written at the end of 2009, but we’ve been hard pressed to find them mentioned in any mainstream publication. This is troubling to us, and makes us wonder if people are even aware of the incredible events that took place on those fateful days only eighteen months ago. - Eric Sprott And David Franklin

We present two rather amusing research reports by then-Merrill Lynch Securities Broker/Dealer analyst Guy Moszkowski, discussing Lehman Brothers. Just because with financial analysts like this, who needs a shotgun Bank of America bail out. Oh yeah, Merrill. We also present a soundbite by Fox Pitt Kelton "analyst" David Trone, who, based on his extensive experience determines that David Einhorn, who nailed Lehman, is "looking at data from an inexperienced standpoint; investment banks are very complicated." Oh yes, David, they are indeed. In fact, please give us your mailing address, so we can dispatch this particular piece of literature you so richly deserve.

We have often noted our confusion at the seemingly impossible: a sellside analyst, coming to work each and every day, even though this process tends to be preceded by the monumentally difficult process of tying one's shoes. But don't take our word for it - the Valukas gift that keeps on giving, has summarized some of the more relevant analyst quotes disseminated by the sell-side to their clients, in the days and months before the firm filed for bankruptcy. (Stunningly, Dick Bove's Buy call on Lehman days before the firm blew up did not make the list). Instead of actually digging into the numbers, (hint - if Einhorn did it, it can be done] every single analyst was perfectly happy to accept the "reality" that was presented to them (with remarkably few exceptions) and spin it in to some sort of positive case, just so the firm's sales and trading operation could milk a few extra dollars in commissions from LEH shares. Let's dig in:

Two years ago when I warned that Munis were getting primed for default in quite a few states (analysis linked below), my admonitions were pooh-poohed. Muni's practically never default, said the ivory tower (muni salesmen) professionals. Don't look now, but bankruptcy warnings are now standard fare in the Detroit prospectus, that doesn't even come with a set of financial statements attached. They are probably paying more than Greece,,, with more to come.

Earlier today political corpse Chris Dodd said that he would proceed with unveiling a financial reform bill on Monday without Republican participation, in a humiliating blow to Bob Corker, who was most recently seen doing all he could to help his Wall Street colleagues make sure the Volcker plan would never see the light of day. Yet with recent rumors out of Washington that not only is the Volcker plan alive and well, the double whammy for Corker may be coming any day. So what does the Tennessee Senator do? He joins the Fed bashing brigade. Among his remarks from his conference given today after his was "fired" by Dodd, was the observation that the "Fed will have its wings clipped in reform" and that the "Fed is lobbying hard to protect its marble buildings." No doubt Senator: it is people like you who make Fed (and broader Wall Street) lobbying efforts quite easy. We hope that you and all your other bought and paid for colleagues in the Senate can learn from Senator Kaufman, whose speech on financial reform we already posted earlier, but which needs to be read and understood by all who are serious about regulatory reform, instead of puppets like Chris Dodd who huff and puff, yet only want to secure a friendly donation paycheck from his core Wall Street constituency, well into his retirement days.

A new report by Moody's "U.S. Bank Asset Quality: Negative Trends Slow Down, But The Pain Isn't Over" has some gloomy observations about the asset quality of the US financial system, and its implications for future charge offs and overall profitability. In estimating total loan charge-offs between 2008 and 2011 Moody's predicts that of the total $536 billion (really $633 billion if unadjusted for purchasing accounting marks), which is equal to 9.7% of all loan outstanding at December 31, 2007, only $240 billion has been charged off, leaving $296 billion still to hit the books. Yet banks have taken loan loss allowances of "only" $188 billion, leaving just over $100 billion unaccounted for. And people wonder why banks are unwilling to lend. Moody's conclusion on what happens as reality catches up with charge offs: "Although banks have provisioned for a substantial amount of their remaining charge-offs, the additional provision required will extend the period that many banks will be unprofitable well into 2010, and will reduce capital levels." Obviously, Moody's estimates do not go past 2011 when many anticipate the next major wave of loan impairments to occur in the form of Option ARM resets and Commercial Real Estate maturities. Furthermore, Moody's does not account for securitized credit card losses, which will also be an area of major pain for the banks in the upcoming years. Just how big the impact of all these will be is still to be determined although it is very likely that the overall impact will impair overall bank capital by well over $100 billion over the next several years.

A detailed overview of the current state of charge-offs, delinquencies and (yes) improvements in the mortgage industry - and most importantly what can be discerned from these trends...