Reuters (December 29)
“Big bank mergers are no longer taboo. Ever since the 2008 crisis bosses have considered consolidation between large lenders unworkable, while regulators deemed it undesirable. UBS (UBSG.S) Chief Executive Sergio Ermotti may change that if he safely and profitably absorbs local rival Credit Suisse.”
Tags: 2008 crisis, Big bank, Consolidation, Credit Suisse, Ermotti, Lenders, Mergers, Profitably, Regulators, Taboo, UBS, Undesirable, Unworkable
Financial Times (July 8)
“Japan has too many banks in the same way as it has too many manufacturers of televisions, fridges and microwave ovens. Yet while chronic oversupply has been one of the main forces depressing prices for consumer electronics over the past couple of decades, the influence of the merger-wary banks has been–arguably–more malign.” It would benefit everyone if the reluctant banks were to “find a partner, and get on with it.”
New York Times (December 23)
The proposed acquisitions of NYSE Euronext by IntercontinentalExchange (ICE) and Knight Capital Group by Getco both “reflect the demise of traditional stock-exchange trading. The equities market has been eclipsed by the global market in derivatives, and human traders have been increasingly replaced by computers programmed to profit from split-second price anomalies.” Regulators have not kept pace with this change. “The mergers should remain on the drawing board unless and until regulators can reassure the public that the newly created companies will operate not only for private gain, but in the public interest as well.”
Tags: Derivatives, Equities, Getco, High-speed trading, Ice, Knight Capital, Mergers, NYSE Euronext, Regulation
