In its latest annual summary published at the end of June, the IIF found that total nominal global debt had risen to a new all time high of $217 trillion, or 327% of global GDP... ... largely as a result of an unprecedented increase in emerging market leverage. While the continued growth in debt in zero interest rate world is hardly surprising, what was notable is that debt within the developed world appeared to have peaked, if not declined modestly in the latest 5 year period. However,...
Read More »On Cheques
On his blog, JP Koning discusses the versatility of cheques: A cheque instructs a bank to transfer deposits. It is a derivative on bank deposits. A post dated cheque serves as debt instrument, e.g., vis-a-vis pay day lenders. An uncashed cheque may serve as money if marked “to bearer” or endorsed by the recipient. Laws grant cheques currency status. A cheque may be used for payments even if other payment mechanisms break down. During the Irish banking strike of 1970, “for six months...
Read More »Where There’s Smoke…
Central banks around the world have colluded, if not conspired, to elevate and prop up financial asset prices. Here we’ll present the data and evidence that they’ve not only done so, but gone too far. When we discuss elevated financial asset prices we really are talking about everything; we’re talking not just about the sky-high prices of stocks and bonds, but also of the trillions of dollars’ worth of derivatives that...
Read More »How Derivatives Markets Responded to the De-Pegging of the Swiss Franc
In a Bank of England Financial Stability Paper, Olga Cielinska, Andreas Joseph, Ujwal Shreyas, John Tanner and Michalis Vasios analyze transactions on the Swiss Franc foreign exchange over-the-counter derivatives market around January 15, 2015, the day when the Swiss National Bank de-pegged the Swiss Franc. From the abstract: The removal of the floor led to extreme price moves in the forwards market, similar to those...
Read More »How Derivatives Markets Responded to the De-Pegging of the Swiss Franc
In a Bank of England Financial Stability Paper, Olga Cielinska, Andreas Joseph, Ujwal Shreyas, John Tanner and Michalis Vasios analyze transactions on the Swiss Franc foreign exchange over-the-counter derivatives market around January 15, 2015, the day when the Swiss National Bank de-pegged the Swiss Franc. From the abstract: The removal of the floor led to extreme price moves in the forwards market, similar to those observed in the spot market, while trading in the Swiss franc options...
Read More »Financial Transaction Tax—Stalled
In the FT, Jim Brunsden reports that the European Commission’s 2013 proposal to install a financial transaction tax has not made much progress. At least nine countries have to sign up. The report highlights that key differences remain on how to craft exemptions from the tax, including the problem of how to shield transactions in other non-participating EU countries such as Britain. Other splits concern how to protect market-making activities by banks, and also what carveouts should apply...
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