Thursday 28 July 2011

European Banks Tumble On Schauble Comments Against "Blank Check" EFSF

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/european-banks-tumble-schauble-comments-against-blank-check-efsf

When we first summarized our take on the second European bailout package we completely ignored the specifics of the rollover mechanism and the private investor participation scheme because they were entirely irrelevant. We said: "This is merely a red herring that attempts to confuse the issues associated with the first, and far more important concept: the nuances of the EFSF and its imminent expansion. And expand it will have to, because in reality what is happening is that the net debt of the countries will end up growing even more over time for one simple reason: this is not a restructuring of existing debt from the perspective of the host country! Simply said Greek debt will continue growing as a percentage of its GDP, meaning it, and Ireland, and Portugal, and soon thereafter Italy and Spain will be forced to borrow exclusively from the EFSF. Therein lies the rub... The bottom line is that for an enlarged EFSF (which is what its blank check expansion today provided) to be effective, it will need to cover Italy and Belgium." We further said that "by not monetizing European debt on its books, the ECB has effectively left Germany holding the bag to the entire European bailout via the blank check SPV." We concluded with the rhetorical: "what happens tomorrow when every German (in a population of 82 very efficient million) wakes up to newspaper headlines screaming that their country is now on the hook to 32% of its GDP in order to keep insolvent Greece, with its 50-some year old retirement age, not to mention Ireland, Portugal, and soon Italy and Spain, as part of the Eurozone?" Well, German Finance Minister just gave us an answer, and it is the reason why various European banks are once locked limit down, and the entire banking industry in Europe is bleeding: "The government rejects a 'carte blanche' for widespread purchases on the secondary market." This means that the entire second bailout package has now been unilaterally unwound courtesy of German which has realized it was the "weakest link" patsy, and will not agree to the clause giving the EFSF unlimited PPT powers. Time to start planning bailout #3.

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