By Patrick Clark 9/26/12 8:49am

Morning Read

Greece, Spain Come Apart Over Austerity Measures; “Libor Fixing Can Make You That Much Money”: Roundup

More than 50,000 Greeks marched on the nation’s parliament to protest austerity measures required by bailout agreements, according to Reuters: ”‘We can’t just sit by idly and do nothing while the troika and the government destroy our lives,’ said Dimitra Kontouli, a 49-year-old local government employee whose salary was cut to 1,100 euros a month from 1,600 euros previously.”

Spain is moving towards accepting European bailouts, even as protests in Madrid turned violent and politicians in the Catalonia region called for secession.

“It’s just amazing how Libor fixing can make you that much money or lose if opposite.” So said Tan Chi Min, a former Royal Bank of Scotland trader in a conversation with traders at other banks, in an affidavit reviewed by Bloomberg. “It’s a cartel now in London.” Tan is suing RBS in Singapore for wrongful dismissal after being fired for attempting to manipulate Libor. Read More

By Patrick Clark 9/24/12 8:09am

Credit Crisis Turns Tables on Spain; For Credit Agricole Expensive to Get Out of Greece: Roundup

In the earlier years of the European debt crisis, Spain pushed for Ireland and Portugal to accept international bailouts, lest the confidence in those countries’ ability to repay borrowers spread to neighboring countries (i.e. Spain). Now foreign leaders are urging the Madrid-based government to ask for help from the European Central Bank, and Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy is resisting.

Credit Agricole’s 2006 purchase of Emporiki Bank of Greece may cost the French lender another $779 million, according to the Wall Street Journal. Credit Agricole has already written off billions on Emporiki, which has been roiled by the Greek economic crisis; the French bank is in the process of selling Emporiki, for an expected price of 1 euro. Read More

By Patrick Clark 9/17/12 7:09pm

Rogue

Kweku-Adoboli-jpg

Rogue Trader Overdrew Personal Bank Accounts As He Risked Billions for UBS

It’s hard to imagine a more terrifying prospect than a 30-year-old trader risking billions in unauthorized speculative bets at that the same time his own personal finances spiraled out of control. Which is of course what prosecutors say happened in the case of Kweku Adoboli, the former UBS trader who squandered billions when unhedged positions turned against him. Indeed, as Mr. Adoboli was risking as much as $12 billion for UBS, he was losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in personal trading accounts that violated the firms rules. Read More

By Patrick Clark 9/14/12 6:31pm

cost of living

Bain

Other Things UBS Could Have Done With $2.3 Billion If a Rogue Trader Hadn’t Gambled It Away

What does $2.3 billion mean, really? What can it buy, where would you keep, how does it taste, what’s its circumference? These are not questions for most of us. These aren’t questions for anyone, really, save Sasha Wass, the British prosecutor tasked with explaining how former UBS trader Kweku Adoboli managed to lose such a colossal amount of money.
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