Super League pits economics against history in a clash of cultures

Yahoo – AFP, Antoine MAIGNAN,  April 20, 2021 

A plane flies above Elland Road in Leeds before the Premier League game
against Liverpool protesting against the planned Super League

As the clubs who want to form a Super League focus on their economic futures, they find themselves attacked on all sides for being at odds with football's past. 

"Created by the poor, stolen by the rich," read one banner held up by fans outside Manchester United's Old Trafford stadium on Monday. It summed up the frustration that has been gripping most football followers since the plans were announced. 

UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said the proposed closed breakaway league was "a spit in the face" of "football lovers". 

"Everyone is united against this disgraceful, self-serving proposal, fuelled by greed above all else," he said. 

Despite the opposition of their own fans, national governments and the football authorities the 12 clubs are pressing ahead. 

They represent just seven cities in three countries. Six are from England and three each from Spain and Italy. 

The suspicion of fans that the clubs are losing touch with their roots is amplified by the foreign ownership of the majority of the rebel clubs, in several cases through faceless holding companies. 

Manchester City are owned by Sheikh Mansour, a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family. Inter Milan are controlled by Chinese holding company Suning. Chelsea are owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovic. 

'Americanisation of the world' 

But the greatest suspicion is that the proposed league is part of what French football historian Paul Dietschy called "the Americanisation of the world". 

An Arsenal fan hangs a banner aimed at the club's America
owner on their Emirates Stadium

Four, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and AC Milan, are owned by Americans or companies based in the United States. 

Of those, three own franchises in major US sports. 

The Fenway Sports Group at Liverpool also owns baseball's Boston Red Sox. The Glazer family at Manchester United own Super Bowl champions the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Stan Kroenke, who controls Arsenal, also owns the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League and the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association. 

There is also an American influence at Juventus. The club has a long association with Fiat, now part of American-Italian group Stellantis. That company's American president John Elkann, a grandson of former Juventus owner Gianni Agnelli, appointed his cousin Andrea Agnelli to run the club. 

The proposed league is being underwritten by American money, in the form of a four billion dollar (3.32bn euro) loan from Wall Street bank JPMorgan Chase. 

As long ago as the 1950s and 1960s, research by American economists showed their clubs were "profit maximisers", while British economist Peter Sloane found that football clubs in the English league were "utility maximisers", motivated by non-financial considerations. 

"American sport has historically been very focused on profit," said Chris Winn, a researcher at the University Campus of Football Business, which has links with Manchester City as well as Premier League Burnley. 

"It's no coincidence that there is a core American group at the heart of these Super League proposals. The European football elite are looking for a guaranteed piece of the pie every year." 

Chelsea fans protested outside Stamford Bridge on Tuesday

Dietschy told AFP that the clubs no longer wanted to be anchored in their local landscape. 

"These clubs are becoming brands and as they target other markets," he said. "It's counter-intuitive when you think of football, but it can work like the American franchises." 

'The rich stealing what the people created' 

But, Dietschy cautioned, "we must be wary of romanticism applied to football. The richest have always dominated. What has changed, however, is that today money is no longer used to win but to make a profit." 

Yet some elite players, who stand to share that profit, are outraged. 

"I believe in an improved Champions League, but not in the rich stealing what the people created," said Paris Saint-Germain's Spain midfielder Ander Herrera 

"The rich have stolen what the people have created," Manchester United's Portuguese player Bruno Fernandes posted on social media. "Dreams cannot be bought." 

So far the Super League has not attracted any clubs in the key market of Germany. 

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have both taken a public stand against the plan. 

"I would like to make it explicitly clear that FC Bayern will not be taking part in the Super League," said club chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in a statement on Tuesday. 

Like Barcelona and Real Madrid, the two Bundesliga giants are fan owned, but German supporters have long been vocal defenders of football traditions. 

Bayern is run by German former players in contrast to the Super League clubs. 

"The directors of these clubs are people trained in top management schools, and their logic is that of business and profit," said Dietschy.

EU fines five major banks 1 bn euros for currency collusion

Yahoo – AFP, May 16, 2019

.With collusion between traders, clients may not have gotten the best rates (AFP
Photo/Daniel LEAL-OLIVAS)

Brussels (AFP) - The EU's powerful anti-trust authority on Thursday fined five major banks -- including Barclays and Citigroup -- more than a billion euros for collusion in the massive foreign exchange currency market.

The European Commission sanctioned Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup, JPMorgan and Japan's MUFG Bank a total of 1.07 billion euros ($1.2 billion) after finding that traders colluded to fix exchange rates using electronic chat rooms, a statement said.

The commission said Swiss giant UBS received no fine as it revealed the collusion to the authorities.

"These cartel decisions send a clear message that the commission will not tolerate collusive behaviour in any sector of the financial markets," said EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager.

"The behaviour of these banks undermined the integrity of the sector at the expense of the European economy and consumers," she added.

The decision involves two cases of forex manipulation, with the first known as "Essex Express 'n the Jimmy" because all the traders (except Jimmy) lived in the county to the east of London, the commission said.

The other one was called "Three-way banana split", though the EU's executive arm did not explain why.

"Some of the traders created the chat rooms and then invited one another to join, based on their trading activities and personal affinities, creating closed circles of trust," the commission explained.

The collusion took place between 2007 and 2013, roughly the years of the financial crisis and has been sanctioned by other authorities, including the US.

Except Japan's MUFG, the banks cooperated with the commission and in return received lighter fines than the EU's maximum amount.

"We are pleased to resolve this historical matter, which relates to the conduct of one former employee. We have since made significant control improvements," said a spokesperson for JPMorgan.

Several of the banks, including Barclays, had already provisioned for the fines in earlier filings.

2008 financial crisis: the collapse of Lehman Brothers

Yahoo – AFP, September 2, 2018

Lehman Brothers' headquarters in New York on September 15, 2008, the day
the Wall Street titan fell (AFP Photo/NICHOLAS ROBERTS)

Paris (AFP) - Once a titan of world finance, investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed 10 years ago, triggering the worst crisis in global finance since the Great Depression.

Here is a look back at the 18 months that led up to Lehman's dramatic declaration of bankruptcy on September 15, 2008.

- Early 2007: subprimes backfire -

In February, several US banks specialized in subprime mortgages -- which are risky but classified as safe investments by credit ratings agencies -- go bankrupt.

These loans with variable interest rates given to households with fragile finances backfire on lenders when millions of borrowers are unable to make monthly payments that climb with rising interest rates.

When these subprime lenders go bankrupt, some analysts talk about the "risk" to financial markets, but most are optimistic, judging the sector will have a minimal impact on the US economy.

- Summer 2007: banks, markets hit -

In June, the investment bank Bear Stearns announces its hedge funds involved in subprime loans are in trouble. It is the first major bank to be subjected to damages in the crisis.

Turmoil intensifies in July and August and world markets are shaken when banks such as BNP Paribas in France reveal their own investments in high-risk loans.

The internal banking market is hit -- banks hesitate to make loans to each other-- while several central banks intervene, injecting billions of liquidity into the financial system.

End 2007: Lehman's confident

While the major world banks (UBS, Citigroup) suffer due to the subprime crisis, Lehman Brothers publish record annual results in December 2007, with a net profit of $4.2 billion.

The New York investment bank makes no mention of a new depreciation nor any provision to clean up the consequences of the subprime crisis, instead praising itself for its ability to operate above the cycles of the market, thanks to its diversification.

But between August 2007 and January 2008, Lehman's eliminates 3,000 mortgage-related jobs.

Early 2008: widespread panic

On January 22, 2008, faced with plunging world markets, the US Federal Reserve slashes interest rates by 3.5 percent, an exceptional measure, followed by a new cut by a half percentage point a week later.

The next month in the UK, the government steps in to nationalize Northern Rock, the fifth-largest bank in the country but now in crisis.

In March, JP Morgan Chase buys Bear Stearns for next to nothing, and 15 times less than its market capitalization, in a bid to avoid escalating collapse. The market predicts Lehman Brothers, which eliminates another 1,400 jobs at the start of the month, could be the next bank to fall.

- Summer 2008: titan no more -

On June 2, the credit rating agency S&P cuts its rating for Lehman Brothers to "A" from its previous "A-plus."

A week later, Lehman Brothers announces an anticipated quarterly loss of $2.8 billion, its first since the bank appeared on the stock market in 1994.

It seeks any way to raise liquidity, notably in looking for potential partners. Hopes are raised with Korea Development Bank, but on September 10, the South Korean bank announces an end to talks.

The same day, Lehman Brothers publishes catastrophic results.

The US Treasury fails to organize a buyout by investors and chooses not to bail Lehman Brothers out, leaving it to declare bankruptcy on September 15.

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once),Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

JPMorgan 'seriously breached anti-money laundering regulations': Switzerland

Yahoo – AFP, 21 December 2017

JPMorgan broke anti-money laundering rules in 1MDB deals: Switzerland

JP Morgan Chase's Swiss unit "seriously breached anti-money laundering regulations" in its dealings with Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB, the Swiss financial markets watchdog found Thursday.

The US bank's subsidiary "failed to adequately identify the increased money laundering risks in some of the business relationships related to this case", the FINMA body said, referring to a money-laundering scandal that has shaken the Malaysian political establishment.

"The bank seriously breached anti-money laundering regulations by failing to screen adequately transactions and business relationships booked in Switzerland associated with the Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB and one of its business partners," FINMA said in a statement.

Despite its findings, FINMA said it would not seek legal proceedings against any individuals and there would be no fines against JP Morgan.

The US Justice Department alleges in civil lawsuits that $4.5 billion was looted from 1MDB in an audacious campaign of fraud and money-laundering.

The scandal has rocked the administration of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, the founder of 1MDB, who must call elections by mid-2018. He has responded by purging critics from his government and curbing domestic investigations.

Celebrities have been sucked into the scandal, with the Justice Department alleging stolen 1MDB money was used to buy jewelry worth millions of dollars for Miranda Kerr as well as gifts for Leonardo DiCaprio.

Authorities in several countries as still investigating the complex deals involving the Malaysian fund and other entities.

In April 2016 1MDB defaulted on $1.75 billion in bonds after missing an interest payment of $50 million.

While JP Morgan Chase's Swiss unit has escaped fines, FINMA said Thursday it will now conduct an in-depth review of the bank's anti-money laundering systems.

German taxman goes after foreign banks

German state prosecutors are investigating nearly 60 foreign banks for "abetting tax evasion," a newspaper report has said. Self-declaring former tax-evaders are proving a particularly valuable source of information.

Deutsche Welle, 4 Oct 2016

Prosecutors in Germany's most populous state are investigating 57 foreign banks on charges of abetting tax evasion, according to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung." The banks, from Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Luxembourg, have all been under suspicion over the past two years, the report said on Tuesday.

The banks were brought to the investigators' attention thanks to a wave of German citizens offering voluntary declarations of their foreign bank accounts over the past six years - concentrating in particular on banks mentioned repeatedly.

The German authorities have already negotiated fines with banks in around 10 cases, according to the paper, amounting to a total of around 120 million euros ($135 million). The biggest single fine came from the Basler Kantonalbank, Switzerland, which handed over 37.1 million euros.

The Luxembourg bank BCEE has paid 14 million euros, while the Deutsche Bank in Switzerland has paid some 10 million euros. On top of that, in one particularly egregious case, a bank is believed to be negotiating a fine of around 60 million euros.

Walter-Borjans said prosecutors will
pursue every indication of tax evasion

The Austria-based Akte Walser Privatbank confirmed that it had paid its fine of 5.4 million euros, and that its policies had become tighter since the case. "Our bank changed the way it deals with foreign customers radically in 2009," a spokesman told the paper. "The requirements for the identification of customers and the transparency about the origin of the means are very strict."

BCEE did not respond to a request for comment, while a spokesman for Deutsche Bank in Switzerland told DW that it never comments on such cases.

New methods

Paying closer attention to voluntary declarations has become German prosecutors' new favorite method of tracking down tax evaders.

Instead of buying up CDs of customer data from disloyal bank employees (or other illicit sources) - a move that divided Germany's political parties when authorities spent several million euros to do so in the past - the authorities now increasingly investigate banks that repeatedly appear on voluntary declarations.

The former tax evaders are then questioned for more information about the banks. In an email to DW, however, a spokesman for the Cologne state prosecutors said they could "neither comment on or confirm" the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" report and that they did not record statistics about voluntary declarations.

Tenacious taxmen

North Rhine-Westphalia has become Germany's most vociferous tax crime prosecutor in recent years.

The NRW authorities have acquired 

CDs with account data in the past

The state has acquired 11 data storage devices since 2010, which according to a statement from early August, created a wave of voluntary declarations and fines that has brought some 6 billion euros to Germany's public coffers.

The most recent example was in August, when someone anonymously (and free of charge) sent the NRW Finance Ministry an external hard drive containing the details of some 160,000 bank accounts - 54,000 of which were German, around 50,000 Belgian, and around 42,000 French. State Finance Minister Norbert Walter-Borjans has pledged to pass on all the data the state has to the relevant foreign authorities across Europe.

The latest revelations show that German prosecutors are now paying particular attention to banks in Austria, where banking secrecy was once protected by the constitution. In 2014, the European Court of Justice ruled that this was unlawful, triggering a sharp rise in voluntary tax declarations, particularly in Bavaria - while many Austrian banks let employees go.

Last week, various German media outlets reported that the NRW tax authorities were also pursuing major multinational financial institutions, including J.P. Morgan, Barclays and HSBC, on suspicion of "devious stock trading," allowing them to avoid some 10 billion euros of tax over several years.

"Our tax investigations go after every suspicion - without regard for either individuals or credit institutions," Walter-Borjans said. He added that a number of banks had already entered into negotiations and were cooperating with authorities, though he would not go into details. He went on to urge other banks to follow suit.

Related Article:

Just 16% of Dutch consumers trust banks, new survey shows

ING to slash up to 7,000 jobs, 2,300 will go in the Netherlands

Big three Dutch banks have announced 40,000 job cuts since 2011

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

JPMorgan Chase pays $1.42 bn to settle most of Lehman Bros suit

Yahoo – AFP, January 26, 2016

JPMorgan Chase will pay $1.42 bn to settle most of the litigation relating to
the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers (AFP Photo/Spencer Platt)

New York (AFP) - JPMorgan Chase has agreed to pay $1.42 billion to settle most of the litigation relating to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, according to court documents seen Tuesday.

Lehman Brothers had accused JPMorgan Chase, which was its primary lender, of draining its liquidity just before the US banking and financial services company declared bankruptcy in September 2008, a move that shook the global financial system to the core.

The cash settlement resolves most of the lawsuit filed by Lehman Brothers, which claimed that JPMorgan illegally abused its position as the primary lender in order to put itself ahead of other creditors to get their money, thus accelerating Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy.

US, Britain fine six top banks nearly $6 bn for forex, Libor abuses

Yahoo – AFP, John Biers, 20 May 2015

The far-flung settlement included guilty pleas from Barclays Bank, JPMorgan

 Chase, Citicorp and the Royal Bank of Scotland for conspiring to manipulate

the massive currency market (AFP Photo/Ben Stansall)

New York (AFP) - US and British regulators fined six major global banks a total of nearly $6 billion between them Wednesday for rigging the foreign exchange market and Libor interest rates.

They said forex traders from the banks had met in an online chatroom brazenly named "the Cartel" to set rates that cheated customers while adding to their own profits in the massive global currencies market.

In the far-flung settlement, Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Citicorp and the Royal Bank of Scotland all pleaded guilty to US Justice Department charges of conspiring to manipulate the massive currency market.

Switzerland's UBS meanwhile pleaded 

guilty to violating a prior settlement of

 charges for rigging the Libor interest rate 

(AFP Photo/Fabrice Coffrini)

Switzerland's UBS meanwhile pleaded guilty to violating a prior settlement of charges for rigging the Libor interest rate.

And Bank of America was included with the other five in fines levied by the US Federal Reserve in the forex rigging case.

"They acted as partners -- rather than competitors -- in an effort to push the exchange rate in directions favorable to their banks but detrimental to many others," said US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

"And their actions inflated the banks' profits while harming countless consumers, investors and institutions around the globe."

'The Cartel'

In Wednesday's settlement, the Department of Justice meted out its largest set of antitrust fines ever, assessing $2.5 billion against Barclays, JPMorgan, Citicorp and RBS in the forex case.

Those four, plus UBS and Bank of America, will also pay more than $1.8 billion to the US Federal Reserve over "unsafe and unsound practices" in forex markets.

Barclays, which did not take part in a previous settlement last November with various agencies, was additionally fined more than $1.3 billion by Britain's Financial Conduct Authority, the New York State Department of Financial Services, and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Combined with a $203 billion Justice Department fine for UBS in the Libor case, and other penalties, the total assessed Wednesday was almost $6 billion.

Regulators described a bold scheme by financial heavyweights to orchestrate trades in the $5.3-trillion-per-day global foreign exchange market.

JPMorgan blamed its role principally on

 a single trader who has been dismissed 

(AFP Photo/John Moore)

Traders from the banks, communicating via the "Cartel" chat room, agreed to withhold bids or offers for euros or dollars at distinct times to protect each other's trading positions, the Justice Department said.

The banks involved represented at least one-fourth of dollar-euro transactions each year and "were uniquely positioned to manipulate the market," said Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer.

A number of traders are facing charges in various countries for their roles in the scheme.

Barclays fined $2.4 billion

The size of penalties on individual banks ranged from the hundreds of millions of dollars to $2.4 billion for British bank Barclays, depending on a bank's involvement in the scheme.

The Barclays sum was high because it had not participated in the November settlement between several banks and the FCA, DFS and CFTC.

Georgina Philippou, the FCA's director of enforcement, called Barclays' role "another example of a firm allowing unacceptable practices to flourish on the trading floor."

Barclays chief executive Antony Jenkins said he regretted that "some individuals" within the bank "have once more brought our company and industry into disrepute."

"This demonstrates again the importance of our continuing work to build a values-based culture and strengthen our control environment," he said.

Citigroup, which had the second largest total fine of $1.3 billion, called the scandal "an embarrassment to our firm, and stands in stark contrast to Citi's values."

Citigroup, which had the second largest

 total fine of $1.3 billion, called the scandal

 "an embarrassment to our firm, and

 stands in stark contrast to Citi's values" 

(AFP Photo/Don Emmert)

Citigroup said it had separately reached an agreement to pay $394 million to settle related private US class action claims.

JPMorgan blamed its role principally on a single trader who has been dismissed.

"The lesson here is that the conduct of a small group of employees, or of even a single employee, can reflect badly on all of us, and have significant ramifications for the entire firm," said JPMorgan chief executive Jamie Dimon.

The Justice Department's $203 million fine against UBS, and $60 million levied on Barclays, related to their violating a 2012 settlement for conspiring to rig Libor, the global commercial interest rate benchmark used to peg millions of rate-sensitive contracts and loans around the world.

But, because it offered early cooperation in the forex rigging case, the Swiss bank earned conditional immunity from those charges.

In a settlement announced by the US Justice Department on Wednesday, the banks

agreed to pay close to $6 billion (5.3 billion euros) in fines for their manipulations.

Related Articles:

Six top banks fined for forex, Libor abuses


"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Biggest Global Banks Go to Pieces Under Pressure From Regulators

Jakarta Globe - Bloomberg, Michael J. Moore, Yalman Onaran & Nicholas Comfort, Feb 27, 2015

The logo of HSBC Private Bank in Geneva, Switzerland, 18 February 2015.
(EPA Photo/Martial Trezzini)

Global regulators have issued dozens of rules aimed at making the biggest banks safer. That’s leading to another result some wanted: making them shrink.

HSBC Holdings, Europe’s biggest bank by market value, said this week it’s considering “extreme solutions” for some of its units. Royal Bank of Scotland Group is reducing its US trading staff and getting out of two-thirds of the countries where it operates. JPMorgan Chase & Co. is closing branches, raising fees on some institutional deposits and looking for ways to shrink its trading businesses.

Increasingly strict capital rules over the past three years may be forcing the breakup of the financial supermarkets built in the decade before the financial crisis. Lenders, unable to use borrowed money to fund as much of their business as they once did, have cut profitability targets and are weighing more drastic actions to meet them.

“We’re beginning to see discussions that these capital charges are sufficiently large it’s causing those firms to think seriously about whether or not they should spin off some of their enterprises to reduce their systemic footprint,” Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen told the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday. “And frankly, that’s exactly what we want to see happen.”

Bank capitulation

Banks have been cutting assets since the financial crisis, selling smaller units and unwinding derivatives that carried high capital charges. The latest moves represent a capitulation in which many of the largest banks may be ending their ambitions of offering all services in all regions.

Regulators’ tools have included minimum capital ratios, stress tests and demands that more bank assets be the types that are easy to sell in a crisis. That combination, along with tepid economic growth and low trading levels, drove return on equity, a measure of profitability, to an average of 3.3 percent last year at 10 of the largest banks from 17 percent in 2006.

“Banks certainly anticipated the direction of travel on capital rules, but with hindsight not the severity, which is why combined with low economic growth we are seeing repeated changes to strategies to try to improve return on equity,” Jon Peace, an analyst at Nomura Holdings, wrote in an e-mail.

While RBS’s decisions were driven by seven straight annual losses, other banks may face pressure to downsize based on profits that aren’t high enough to meet investors’ demands. Bank of America and Citigroup, each with more than $1.8 trillion in assets, haven’t topped a 7 percent return on equity since the financial crisis.

‘Intense pressure’

Deutsche Bank is weighing job cuts, winding down business lines at its investment bank and selling assets, including consumer-lending unit Postbank in Germany, as part of a strategy review at the Frankfurt-based lender, a person with knowledge of the matter said last month.

“In 18 to 36 months, there will be a much more intense pressure on some number of banks to break up,” Lazard Vice Chairman Gary Parr said in an interview last month with Bloomberg TV. “It’s a Darwinian exercise, and what’s fascinating to me is how slowly it’s going.”

JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who runs the most profitable of the 10 banks, has taken the strongest stand against radical change. Dimon has defended his bank against analysts’ suggestions that it would be worth more broken up, saying the lender’s structure is what clients want and offers $18 billion in additional revenue and cost savings.

Black knight

A year ago, JPMorgan said it could earn a 15 percent return on tangible equity, which excludes items such as goodwill, even though it would have to maintain a 10 percent common-equity ratio. In December, the Fed proposed stricter capital rules for the biggest banks. JPMorgan said this week that it will cut more costs and earn 15 percent with a 12 percent common-equity ratio.

“Jamie Dimon is playing the role of the Black Knight in ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’: He’s saying it’s just a flesh wound,” said Mike Mayo, an analyst at CLSA, referring to the 1975 British film in which the knight loses his limbs. “If this is just a flesh wound and they can get a 15 percent ROE with all the additional regulatory impediments, then the call from investors to break up subsides.”

Still, JPMorgan acknowledged at its annual investor day this week that it’s trading at the biggest discount among the eight largest US banks relative to analysts’ estimates of future profitability. Glenn Schorr, an analyst at Evercore ISI in New York, asked if tinkering at the margins failed to grasp the message regulators are sending.

“Are we missing the forest for the trees?” Schorr asked JPMorgan Chief Financial Officer Marianne Lake. “You’re optimizing, but is the Fed going to look at that and say, ‘I don’t get it, how many ways do we need to tell you you need to shrink, both in size and complexity?’”

Onerous rules

It isn’t only the rules forcing banks to cut their reliance on borrowing that have limited profitability. So-called return on assets, which measures how much profit a bank can make for every dollar of assets it holds, has also fallen.

For 10 of the largest European and US banks, profit on each $100 of assets on the balance sheet fell to 22 cents last year from 81 cents in 2006.

With all the capital rules, banking is still highly leveraged compared with other industries. The risk arising from that model has led regulators to attempt to ensure that banks can be wound down in a crisis.

‘Safer system’

“They are saying we’ve got to go back to a much safer system and that means everyone needs to shrink,” said David Ellison, a Boston-based money manager at Hennessy Advisors, which oversaw $5.9 billion at year-end. “They are using Basel, the CCAR stress test, to say this is what we want you to do. They have effectively nationalized the banking system.”

At first, it looked as if the rules wouldn’t be that onerous. Capital requirements revised in 2010 after the crisis were watered down under pressure from some European governments. So were the harshest elements of the US Dodd-Frank Act the same year after intense industry lobbying.

The failure of more European banks and the emergence of scandals that revealed rate-rigging and tax-dodging by others changed the political climate, leading to increased desire for stiffer measures. Global regulators added capital surcharges for the largest institutions. US supervisors almost doubled those.

Winding down

There’s nothing in Dodd-Frank or the global capital rules that tells banks to break up, according to Thomas Hoenig, vice chairman of the US Federal Deposit Insurance. The law says they should be capable of being wound down in a crisis, which is pushing some firms to shrink, he said.

“We’re not going to break you up, but we want you to structure yourself so that your failure doesn’t bring the economy down next time,” Hoenig said. “If you can’t get to that point with your current organization structure, then you should sell assets to get to that state.”

That message is finally getting through.

“Everybody knew capital levels would have to rise, but the magnitude of what regulators plan now probably exceeds most people’s expectations,” said Carola Schuler, co-head of European bank ratings at Moody’s Investors Service. “These higher capital requirements could be interpreted as an acknowledgment that the too-big-to-fail containment framework that was in place isn’t working properly.”

Bloomberg

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”