A Tally of Bank and IBank Write Downs
April 12, 2008
|
|
|
|
|
|
The following is a list of write-downs from major banking and investment banking institutions. The numbers are current and cover write-downs from November, 2007. The write-downs include the following: subprime mortgage loans, leveraged loan commitments and other assets.
UBS (UBS): $37.4 billion
Citigroup (C): $21.2 billion (expected further loss of $18 billion in Q1, 2008)
Merrill Lynch (MER): $19.4 billion
Morgan Stanley (MS): $12.9 billion
Deutsche Bank (DB): $7.1 billion
Bank of America (BAC): $5.7 billion
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS): $5.6 billion
Credit Suisse (CS): $4.7 billion
Goldman Sachs (GS): $3.7 billion
Lehman Brothers (LEH): $3.3 billion
Barclays PLC: $3.3 billion
JP Morgan (JPM): $2.9 billion
Bear Stearns (BSC): $2.75 billion
HSBC Holdings: $2.1 billion
In a recent investing blog post, I wrote that we’re currently in a catch-22 type situation. I very much doubt these will be the only losses recorded, and some of the companies mentioned above haven’t even begun to re-price their assets to market value. One such example is Lehman Brothers. They have one of the largest exposures, on a percentage basis, of the types of assets that have soured over the past 6 months. Yet their write-downs are minuscule compared to their competitors, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. I would also mention that Bear Stearns never really came clean on their assets, but as I wrote in an earlier investing blog post, JP Morgan said that they would not have purchased Bear without the $30 billion (now $29 billion) backstop from the Federal Reserve.
What does this all mean? It means that many of these banks, and in particular the investment banks, have lots more to disclose and, in my humble opinion, would benefit from vetting it all right now and begin the rebuilding process. Of course, vetting large write-downs could cause further run-on-the-bank type situations, which Lehman and Merrill, especially, are incredibly worried about.
Comments
3 Responses to “A Tally of Bank and IBank Write Downs”
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.
-
Advertisement
[…] Ryan Freund wrote an interesting post today on A Tally of Bank and IBank Write DownsHere’s a quick excerptI very much doubt these will be the only losses recorded, and some of the companies mentioned above haven’t even begun to re-price their assets to market value. One such example is Lehman Brothers. They have one of the largest exposures … […]
[…] still believe both Lehman and Merrill have a lot going against them, as I stated in an earlier investing blog post, and highly suggest shorting (either through puts or regular shorting) as soon as max pain is […]
[…] core competencies and distance itself from the credit crisis – which has caused UBS to write-down more than $35 billion in bad debt. UBS has resisted the call for the separation of its investment bank arm thus far, but with […]