October 09, 2011

Jean Claude Trichet (and Mario Draghi) should not to be condoned by FT

Sir, you hold that “Trichet leaves Europe in his debt” October 8, as the responsibility for “reckless bank lending”, “rests largely with national politicians and policymakers”, and I must most firmly disagree. 

Jean Claude Trichet, as the President of the European Central Bank, must have been much more aware than the politicians of the existence of the outrageous bank regulations which allowed European banks to leverage 62.5 to 1 and more their equity when lending to almost any sovereign in Europe or investing in triple A rated securities… and he should be held accountable for that, something which equally applies to the incoming president of ECB Mario Draghi. 

If you harbor any doubts about what I am saying, just go back to the hundreds of articles between 2008 and 2010 where your own reporters spoke of the banks having reasonable leverage ratios, completely fooled by the zero and 20 percent risk-weights applied by regulators and that was hiding humongous risky bank exposures.