John Carney provides a link to Bill Gross’s monthly letter in which Bill explains why nationalization is not a viable option for Citi and BofA.
Bill Gross Says We Can’t Nationalize Citi or Bank of America
Bill Gross, the bond king who runs the giant Pacific Investment Management Co, has just released his monthly letter. It’s provided in question and answer format. He says that our banks are too complex and too central to our economy to be successfully nationalized by the government.
I think Roubini, Dodd and Greenspan haven’t thought this one through. The U.S. isn’t Sweden, and not just because our blondes aren’t au naturel. Their successful approach revolved around a handful of banks but we have 7,500, as well as many S&Ls and credit unions, which would have to be flushed into government hands. Regulators are overwhelmed as it is, and if you thought Lehman Brothers was a mistake, just standby and see what nationalizing Citi or BofA would do. Our banks remain at the heart of domestic/global financial transactions and daily clearing, while those Scandinavian banks were not. PIMCO would not dispute the need to further capitalize systemically important banks via convertible bonds held by the government, which unfortunately dilute shareholders’ interests. To go further, however, and “haircut” senior debt or even existing preferred stock similar to that issued via the TARP would create an instability policymakers should not want to risk. In turn, forcing creditors to take haircuts would undermine other financial sectors such as insurance companies and credit unions. The goal of future policy should be to recapitalize lending institutions while maintaining the basic infrastructure of credit markets. Outright nationalization and haircutting of creditors will do just the opposite.
His investing advice is: “shake hands with Uncle Sam” – buying agency mortgages, and other developing areas of government policy support in the credit markets.
See Also:
