Published: Friday October 3, 2008
Seismic events have occurred in the world financial markets over the past year. The Caribbean banking and financial system seems to have escaped fairly unscathed, though this is still being assessed.
In the ratings world, an entity might benefit from an improvement in its credit rating by one or two notches if there is compelling evidence that the Government will support it in times of financial difficulty.
In simple terms, the question to answer is whether the entity is 'too big to fail'.
The answer to the last question is not always quite clear-cut and recent actions by the United States government have only confirmed this.
JPMorgan takeover
In March of this year the US brokered a JPMorgan takeover of Bear Stearns to prevent the latter's collapse and put in place liquidity facilities for broker-dealers not seen since the 1930s.
The government showed support again with its recent intervention via conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage giants who were on the brink of disaster.
One week later though, the same Government stood by and watched Lehman Brothers fall. The bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc was the largest among financial institutions in US history.
As if that wasn't confusing enough, the Government then turned around and announced support for AIG, the insurance giant. While one can begin to offer reasons for involvement with Fannie and Freddie as government-sponsored entities and even AIG as the largest insurer in the world, the obvious question is: Why Bear Stearns and not Lehman?.
Too big to fail
I am certain many former Lehman employees are asking themselves that question right now. Too big to fail it seems can be selective.
Against this setting and turning our attention to home, we must ask ourselves: Are there any local institutions that might qualify as too big to fail?
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20081003/business/business8.html
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