Bank loan report

[Charles Jannuzi]

>>So, banks could be sitting  on a powder keg,
yet  haven't disclosed the value of additional
credit  risk they are under. As an  example of
this, when Enron declared bankruptcy,  the Bank
of NY still held  loans to Enron on their balance
sheet at 80 cents  on the dollar, as opposed  to
the 15 cents they were actually worth.  Further,
JPM Chase was involved in  extending $10bln of
lifeline credit facilities  days before
bankruptcies were  declared by Enron, WorldCom,
Adelphia and Global  Crossing (the top 4 
bankruptcies this year). Coincidence or general 
business practice? Nomi<<

Gosh, big US banks are starting to sound more and
more like the big Japanese banks which have been
subjected to US criticism for the past 8 years.
Collateralized loan packages haven't taken off
here, btw, because for Japanese it's like 'buying
a pig in a poke' and they don't trust US analysts
and their analysis of the quality of such things.
However, the big insurance firms are putting big
money on hedge funds to try and get some return
so they can pay what they promised on annuities.

C Jannuzi, Fukui, Japan

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