The Institutional Risk Analyst

Not all banks or companies are the same and not all follow the herd.

The sad fact is that even with another 2% capital, most US banks are arguably insolvent thanks to the Fed “going big.”

The driving rule behind public depositor overcollateralization was the implementation of the US version of Basel III’s Liquidity Coverage Rule (LCR). It was structured such that a bank gained no operational liquidity for taking municipal deposits. Roughly, every muni deposit dollar had to be collateralized with a low yield high quality liquid asset. The net net interest margin (NIM) for the silo is zero.

But should the bank stumble in a way that surprises Europe’s distracted politicians, look for a very hastily planned merger. Our candidate for the first zombie merger of the 21st Century: DB plus Citigroup (C). Neither bank has a particularly strong domestic banking business or funding base, but there are some interesting asymmetries. Financially it would be a disaster for shareholders, but politically it makes all the sense in the world -- especially if you are Angela Mer