Is Robert Peston...

[Bagpuss]

It's not the banks, it's the fault of the Government not lending our money to prop them up earlier. If so they could have continiued lending 125% equity of an inflated housing market to people who can't pay it back on self cert. Any fool can see that no bankers are to blame here.

Oh and Peston made them do this!

Cybertory

[Moscow Mule]

It's not the banks, it's the fault of the Government not lending our money to prop them up earlier. If so they could have continiued lending 125% equity of an inflated housing market to people who can't pay it back on self cert. Any fool can see that no bankers are to blame here.

Cybertory

You're taking it too far. If the BoE had quietly lent the money to cover NR's existing liabilities without the BBC song and dance then there wouldn't have been a run and they could have kept most of their deposits - thereby reducing the scale of the problem all round.

[Bagpuss]

You're taking it too far. If the BoE had quietly lent the money to cover NR's existing liabilities without the BBC song and dance then there wouldn't have been a run and they could have kept most of their deposits - thereby reducing the scale of the problem all round.

I doubt it, once the borrower of last resort is used in that fashion (to cover bad lending practices) people will always panic. The damage was done before the government was invloved. Subsequent panic in banking this year is a result of US market sentiment, not Mr Peston or the BBC if only he were that powerfull. This mess is driven by poor business practice, government colluded with the banks to some extent by having interest rates too low for too long in order to fuel the tax intake from the housing bubble..Brown's 05 paper lauding credit driven economy springs to mind. Ultimately though this irresponsible boom has made banks too vulnerable in times like this and for that I blame the Banks, then the government for failing to regulate them properly, not for lack of further funding!

[Cyberman]

You're taking it too far. If the BoE had quietly lent the money to cover NR's existing liabilities without the BBC song and dance then there wouldn't have been a run and they could have kept most of their deposits - thereby reducing the scale of the problem all round.

Hear Hear !!!

[Cyberman]

I doubt it, once the borrower of last resort is used in that fashion (to cover bad lending practices) people will always panic. The damage was done before the government was invloved. Subsequent panic in banking this year is a result of US market sentiment, not Mr Peston or the BBC if only he were that powerfull. This mess is driven by poor business practice, government colluded with the banks to some extent by having interest rates too low for too long in order to fuel the tax intake from the housing bubble..Brown's 05 paper lauding credit driven economy springs to mind. Ultimately though this irresponsible boom has made banks too vulnerable in times like this and for that I blame the Banks, then the government for failing to regulate them properly, not for lack of further funding!

[Moscow Mule]

I doubt it, once the borrower of last resort is used in that fashion (to cover bad lending practices) people will always panic. The damage was done before the government was invloved. Subsequent panic in banking this year is a result of US market sentiment, not Mr Peston or the BBC if only he were that powerfull. This mess is driven by poor business practice, government colluded with the banks to some extent by having interest rates too low for too long in order to fuel the tax intake from the housing bubble..Brown's 05 paper lauding credit driven economy springs to mind. Ultimately though this irresponsible boom has made banks too vulnerable in times like this and for that I blame the Banks, then the government for failing to regulate them properly, not for lack of further funding!

Clarification: When I say "all round" I don't mean the whole crunch.

I agree that the problem is caused by US toxic debt, and the securitisation of same, but I don't agree the NR had a high proportion of Toxicity in it's UK operations.

Also, I'm not saying Peston is responsible for the credit crunch, but I do wonder where he gets his info from.
His leaking last Sunday caused the banks share price (their prime generator of security) to be depressed at exactly the point the government wanted it to be low (i.e. when they were buying up stocks).

[Cowboy Bob]

The culprits are the insider/s that are leaking financially sensitive information to him..... ie HMG Treasury. They have left themselves wide open to being sued for the damage to shareholder value.

Absolutely not. Either the traders have a brain and think for themselves, or we may as well turn the markets over to a random number generator. The damage to shares was done by people too ignorant to make informed decisions - the bankers.

[Cyberman]

Clarification: When I say "all round" I don't mean the whole crunch.

I agree that the problem is caused by US toxic debt, and the securitisation of same, but I don't agree the NR had a high proportion of Toxicity in it's UK operations.

Also, I'm not saying Peston is responsible for the credit crunch, but I do wonder where he gets his info from.
His leaking last Sunday caused the banks share price (their prime generator of security) to be depressed at exactly the point the government wanted it to be low (i.e. when they were buying up stocks).

Absolutely correct. Northern Rock had no US-subprime debt, which makes it all the more scandalous that it suffered due to the levels of sub-prime debt of other banks which dried up the moneymarkets.

Peston and HM Treasury were responsible for causing the run on the Rock. Everything should have been conducted quietly behind closed doors, and the result announced afterwards. To announce/leak while discussions were going on was inept and could even be corrupt because of effects on the stock market and possible insider trading.

[Cyberman]

Absolutely not. Either the traders have a brain and think for themselves, or we may as well turn the markets over to a random number generator. The damage to shares was done by people too ignorant to make informed decisions - the bankers.

There are stock market laws/rules and these have been broken by HMG Treasury & Peston. There will surely be an investigation in due course.

[Cyberman]

It's not the banks, it's the fault of the Government not lending our money to prop them up earlier. If so they could have continiued lending 125% equity of an inflated housing market to people who can't pay it back on self cert. Any fool can see that no bankers are to blame here.

Oh and Peston made them do this!

Cybertory

Bagpuss, you show your ignorance of the duty of the BofE as Lender of the Last Resort. If you ran the Treasury, all banks would now be bust.