This guy describes what's happening at a high level: Credit Suisse Collapse: Contagion is Spreading

He thinks we're moving toward nationalizing the banks. Do you agree? What's he missing in his analysis?

Switzerland Considers Nationalization Of Credit Suisse As Proposed UBS Takeunder Falters

https://www.zerohedge.com/mark...under-cs-balks-offer

So much for Credit Suisse thinking it has leverage by balking at the proposed CHF0.25 offer from UBS. Just hours after it was floated that UBS could buy Credit Suisse for $1BN, a proposal which the bank's shareholders balked at, Bloomberg reported that authorities are now considering a full or partial nationalization of Credit Suisse - an outcome which would wipe out the equity and bail-in bondholders - as the only other viable option outside a UBS Group AG takeover. And yes, 0.25 is still more than 0.0.

According to BBG, "the country is considering either taking over the bank in full or holding a significant equity stake if a takeover by UBS Group AG falls apart because of the complexities in arranging the deal and the short time frame involved."

Needless to say, the situation remains "very fluid" and is changing by the hour as authorities seek to finalize a solution for the bank by the time Asian markets open, which is late evening in Europe, the people said.

* * *

Earlier

With just hours left until futures reopen for trading in what could be a very turbulent session, UBS has offered to buy Credit Suisse for up to $1BN the FT first reported, with Swiss authorities planning to change the country’s laws to bypass a shareholder vote on the transaction as they rush to finalize the deal engineered to restore trust in the banking system.

So much for Credit Suisse thinking it has leverage by balking at the proposed CHF0.25 offer from UBS. Just hours after it was floated that UBS could buy Credit Suisse for $1BN, a proposal which the bank's shareholders balked at, Bloomberg reported that authorities are now considering a full or partial nationalization of Credit Suisse - an outcome which would wipe out the equity and bail-in bondholders - as the only other viable option outside a UBS Group AG takeover. And yes, 0.25 is still more than 0.0.

According to BBG, "the country is considering either taking over the bank in full or holding a significant equity stake if a takeover by UBS Group AG falls apart because of the complexities in arranging the deal and the short time frame involved."

Needless to say, the situation remains "very fluid" and is changing by the hour as authorities seek to finalize a solution for the bank by the time Asian markets open, which is late evening in Europe, the people said.



More at link

UBS buys Credit Suisse for $3.2 billion

https://www.msn.com/en-us/mone...g-system/ar-AA18OCCm

UBS agreed to buy its embattled rival Credit Suisse for 3 billion Swiss francs ($3.2 billion) Sunday, with Swiss regulators playing a key part in the deal as governments looked to stem a contagion threatening the global banking system.

“With the takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS, a solution has been found to secure financial stability and protect the Swiss economy in this exceptional situation,” read a statement from the Swiss National Bank, which noted the central bank worked with the Swiss government and the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority to bring about the combination of the country’s two largest banks.

The terms of the deal will see Credit Suisse shareholders receive 1 UBS share for every 22.48 Credit Suisse shares they hold.

“This acquisition is attractive for UBS shareholders but, let us be clear, as far as Credit Suisse is concerned, this is an emergency rescue. We have structured a transaction which will preserve the value left in the business while limiting our downside exposure,” said UBS Chairman Colm Kelleher in a statement.

The combined bank will have $5 trillion of invested assets, according to UBS.

The Swiss National Bank pledged a loan of up to 100 billion Swiss francs ($108 billion) to support the takeover. The Swiss government also granted a guarantee to assume losses up to 9 billion Swiss francs from certain assets over a preset threshold “in order to reduce any risks for UBS,” said a separate government statement.

“This is a commercial solution and not a bailout,” said Karin Keller-Sutter, the Swiss finance minister, in a press conference Sunday.

Bringing the two rivals together was not without its struggles, but pressure to stave off a systemic crisis won out in the end. UBS initially offered to buy Credit Suisse for around $1 billion Sunday, according to multiple media reports. Credit Suisse reportedly balked at the offer, arguing it was too low and would hurt shareholders and employees, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

By Sunday afternoon, UBS was in talks to buy the bank for “substantially” more than 1 billion Swiss francs, sources told CNBC’s Faber. He said the price of the deal increased throughout the day’s negotiations.

Credit Suisse lost around 38% of its deposits in the fourth quarter of 2022 and revealed in its delayed annual report early last week that outflows have still yet to reverse. It reported a full-year net loss of 7.3 billion Swiss francs for 2022 and expects a further “substantial” loss in 2023.

European stocks fall as Deutsche Bank sparks another bank rout

https://www.reuters.com/market...ts-lower-2023-03-24/

A steep sell-off in banking stocks hit European indexes on Friday as worries about the stability of the financial sector intensified, with Deutsche Bank tumbling as cost of insuring the German bank's debt against the risk of default jumped to a more than four-year high.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index (.STOXX) fell 1.4%, but still posted a weekly gain supported by a sharp recovery earlier this week.

"Post what happened to Credit Suisse last weekend, investors don't want to hold on to positions that have any concern around them over the weekend, getting out of such positions is probably what we're seeing with Deutsche Bank," said Paul van der Westhuizen.

"And, of course, there is money to be made if you're on the right side of an over-reaction in the stocks."

Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) tumbled 8.5%, after a sharp jump in the cost of insuring against the risk of default. The German heavyweight said that it would redeem $1.5 billion of Tier 2 notes due in 2028.

"Deutsche Bank has taken the place of Credit Suisse really as being the next sort of weakest link in the chain, possibly unjustly," said David Goebel, associate director of investment strategy at Evelyn Partners.

Shares of UBS Group AG (UBSG.S) and Credit Suisse AG (CSGN.S) fell 3.6% and 5.2%, respectively, after Bloomberg News reported they were among the banks under scrutiny in a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) probe into whether financial professionals helped Russian oligarchs evade sanctions.

European banks (.SX7P) fell 3.8% and were set for their third week of declines, after the failure of U.S. mid-sized lenders and the turmoil at Credit Suisse highlighted growing risks to banks in the wake of tightening financial conditions.



Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBIV.VI) slid 7.9% after Reuters reported the European Central Bank was pressing the bank to unwind its highly profitable business in Russia.

European Union leaders and the ECB sought to calm market jitters by presenting a united front on the banking sector, saying EU lenders were well capitalised and liquid thanks to lessons drawn after the 2008 Lehman Brothers collapse.

A series of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve and other central banks in Europe this week also added to fears of tightening financial conditions even as the U.S. central bank signalled a pause in its hiking cycle.

The STOXX 600 is up just 3.5% on a year-to-date basis, having risen as much as 10% at one point. The U.S. benchmark S&P 500, meanwhile, is up 2.9% so far this year.

An S&P Global survey showed business activity across the eurozone unexpectedly accelerated this month as consumers splashed out on services, but weakening demand for manufactured goods deepened the downturn in the factory sector.

No need to worry. Jim Cramer says Deutsche Bank is actually very profitable. Shares in the inverse Cramer ETF must have gone up Friday.

Texas Bill Would Create State-Issued Gold-Backed Digital Currency

https://www.zerohedge.com/mark...ked-digital-currency

Bills introduced in the Texas House and Senate would create a state-issued, gold-backed digital currency.

Enactment of this legislation would create an option for people to transact business in sound money, set the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve’s monopoly on money and create a viable alternative to a central bank digital currency (CBDC).

Sen. Bryan Hughes (R) introduced Senate Bill 2334 (SB2334) on March 10. Rep. Mark Dorazio (R) introduced a companion, House Bill 4903 (HB4903) on the same day. The legislation would require the state comptroller to establish a digital currency that is fully backed by gold and fully redeemable in cash or gold as well. The comptroller would also be required to create a mechanism to use this gold-backed digital currency in everyday transactions.

“In establishing the digital currency the comptroller shall establish a means to ensure that a person who holds the digital currency may readily transfer or assign the digital currency to any other person by electronic means.”

The state of Texas would hold gold backing the currency in trust on behalf of the digital currency holders.

“The trustee shall maintain enough gold to provide for the redemption in gold of all units of the digital currency that have been issued and are not yet redeemed for money or gold.”

In practice, individuals would be able to purchase digital currency from the state. The state would then use the money to purchase gold that would be held in the Texas Bullion Depository or another secure vault. Individuals would be able to redeem their digital currency for dollars or gold.

CENTRAL BANK DIGITAL CURRENCIES (CBDC)

A gold-backed digital currency would create an alternative and allow individuals and businesses to avoid a CBDC.

Digital currencies exist as virtual banknotes or coins held in a digital wallet on your computer or smartphone. The difference between a central bank (government) digital currency and peer-to-peer electronic cash such as bitcoin is that the value of the CBDC is backed and controlled by the government, just like traditional fiat currency.

At the root of the move toward a CBDC is “the war on cash.” The elimination of cash creates the potential for the government to track and even control consumer spending.

Nigeria is already trying to get people to accept its CBDC (with a great deal of resistance), and China, India, and the US have all launched pilot programs to test CBDCs.

Imagine if there was no cash. It would be impossible to hide even the smallest transaction from the government’s eyes. Something as simple as your morning trip to Starbucks wouldn’t be a secret from government officials. As Bloomberg put it in an article published when China launched a digital yuan pilot program in 2020, digital currency “offers China’s authorities a degree of control never possible with physical money.”

The government could even “turn off” an individual’s ability to make purchases. Economist Thorsten Polleit outlined the potential for Big Brother-like government control with the advent of a digital euro in an article published by the Mises Wire. As he put it, “the path to becoming a surveillance state regime will accelerate considerably” if and when a digital currency is issued.

A gold-backed digital currency would create an alternative to CBDCs.

IMPACT

The creation of a state-issued gold-backed digital currency would create currency competition with Federal Reserve notes and undermine the Fed’s monopoly on money. It would also provide an alternative if the Federal Reserve implements a central bank digital currency.

Broadly speaking, by making gold conveniently available for regular, daily transactions by the general public, gold-backed digital currency would create the potential for a wide-reaching effect. Professor William Greene, an expert on constitutional tender, said in a paper for the Mises Institute that when people in multiple states actually start using gold instead of Federal Reserve notes, it would effectively nullify the Federal Reserve and end the federal government’s monopoly on money.

“Over time, as residents of the state use both Federal Reserve notes and silver and gold coins, the fact that the coins hold their value more than Federal Reserve notes do will lead to a ‘reverse Gresham’s Law’ effect, where good money (gold and silver coins) will drive out bad money (Federal Reserve notes).

“As this happens, a cascade of events can begin to occur, including the flow of real wealth toward the state’s treasury, an influx of banking business from outside of the state – as people in other states carry out their desire to bank with sound money – and an eventual outcry against the use of Federal Reserve notes for any transactions.”

Gresham’s Law holds that “bad money drives out good.” For example, when the U.S. government replaced silver quarters and dimes with coins made primarily of less valuable copper, the cheap coins drove the silver out of circulation. People hoarded the more valuable silver coins and spent the less valuable copper money. So, how do you reverse Gresham?

The key is in making it easier to use gold in everyday transactions. The reason bad money drives out good is that governments put up barriers to using sound money in day-to-day life. That makes it more costly to spend gold and incentivizes hoarding. When you remove barriers, you level the playing field and allow gold and silver to compete head-to-head with Federal Reserve notes. On an even playing field, gold beats fiat money every time.

BACKGROUND

The United States Constitution states in Article I, Section 10, “No State shall…make any Thing but gold and silver Coin a Tender in Payment of Debts.” Currently, all debts and taxes in Kansas are either paid with Federal Reserve Notes (dollars) which were authorized as legal tender by Congress, or with coins issued by the U.S. Treasury — very few of which have gold or silver in them.

The Federal Reserve destroys this constitutional monetary system by creating a monopoly based on its fiat currency. Without the backing of gold or silver, the central bank can easily create money out of thin air. This not only devalues your purchasing power over time; it also allows the federal government to borrow and spend far beyond what would be possible in a sound money system. Without the Fed, the U.S. government wouldn’t be able to maintain all of its unconstitutional wars and programs. The Federal Reserve is the engine that drives the most powerful government in the history of the world.

Creating a gold-backed digital currency would take another step in the process of abolishing the Federal Reserve system by attacking it from the bottom up – pulling the rug out from under it by working to make its functions irrelevant at the state and local levels, and setting the stage to undermine the Federal Reserve monopoly by introducing competition into the monetary system.

WHAT’S NEXT

At the time of this report, SB2334 and HB4903 had not been assigned to committees. Once they get committee assignments, they must get a hearing and pass by a majority vote before moving forward in the legislative process.

quote:

Originally posted by apprentice:
Serious questions:
If you had to put 250k(ish) somewhere besides your mattress, metaphorically speaking, where would that be?

Is this an environment where all bets are off and it's too late?

If you had put that $250K into gold on the day of your post, it would currently be worth $267.25K so there's that.
If you had done it a week earlier, it would now be $276.75K.

oops...there goes another one.

First Republic to be taken by FDIC

How long before all of the banks are under full FDIC control?

quote:

Originally posted by Rightwire:
How long before all of the banks are under full FDIC control?

Beats me but I do believe that Article I, Section 10, becomes more relevant after each failure. The FDIC doesn't have the funds to insure all deposits as is, even if it holds to its $250K mandate. It can handle an entity collapse, it can't handle a system collapse.

I also think picking up a little more gold before Sunday night may not be a bad idea.