Courtesy of Karl Denninger, The Market Ticker
Uh, that last story about Barnhardt exiting the business?
You better think again if you think you’re not at risk. You are.
LONDON — The London Stock Exchange is becoming the lender of last resort for many banks in Italy as concerns over the country’s debt levels squeeze liquidity out of the Italian financial market.
With cash increasingly hard to come by, Italy’s banks are turning to CC&G, the L.S.E’s Italian clearinghouse, for short-term lending. That includes some of the country’s largest financial institutions, including Unicredit and Mediobanca, according to a person close to the situation.
….
The money, which comes from collateral that traders must put up to complete financial transactions, is deposited with the banks to cover shortfalls in liquidity. CC&G earns a profit by charging banks interest on the money that they borrow.
One inconvenient question: What happens when the bank can’t pay it back?
“Financial entities are making money in new and different ways,” he said. “Just because times are bad doesn’t mean they’re not looking for profits.”
Right. They’re lending your so-called "margin deposit" out to someone, making the entire premise of depositing margin against your position a bad joke and guess who the joke will be on if anything goes wrong?
Got a mirror handy?
