RDX : 馬克思的夢想終于實現了
A new wave of turmoil in the European banking system deepened as institutions from Belgium to Iceland succumbed to government bailouts or crises of confidence.
European governments and central banks rushed to the aid of financial institutions struggling to stay afloat amid a shutdown in the markets on which they depend to borrow money. In Germany, the government and a consortium of private banks provided a €35 billion ($51.15 billion) rescue package for big commercial lender Hypo Real Estate Holding AG.
In Iceland, the government nationalized the country's third-largest bank, Glitnir Bank hf, pumping in €600 million for a 75% stake.
And in Russia, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the government will allocate $50 billion -- and more if needed -- to provide banks with funds to pay back foreign loans coming due.
Meanwhile, banks' stock prices fell as investors guessed which institutions would be next to run into trouble. Shares in Belgian-French bank Dexia SA plunged 29% in Paris following analysts' comments that the company will need to carry out a capital increase to bolster its finances. Shares in U.K. bank Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC fell 13% amid concerns the bank could face difficulties similar to that of Dutch-Belgian bank Fortis NV, which joined RBS last year in a consortium to buy Dutch bank ABN Amro for $101 billion. RBS declined to comment. A Dexia spokeswoman said the company has no liquidity problems, but it is closely monitoring the situation.
Frantic Weekend
The moves came after a weekend of frantic activity in which top government officials scrambled to decide the fates of Fortis and U.K. mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley PLC. On Monday, the U.K. government laid out the details of a nationalization plan for B&B, which will see its branches and deposits sold to Spanish bank Banco Santander SA, while taxpayers will take control of some £50 billion ($92 billion) in mortgages and other loans.
The governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands agreed to inject €11.2 billion into Fortis late Sunday night. Fortis's shares fell 24% Monday in Amsterdam.
The troubles in the banking sector reflect a malaise: Worries about banks' health are making it difficult for them to borrow the money they need to stay in business. Despite efforts by central bankers to flood markets with short-term loans, banks have become reluctant to lend to one another for periods of greater than a day.
The tensions were evident Monday in the London interbank offered rate, a benchmark that is supposed to reflect the short-term rates at which banks lend to one another. Overnight dollar Libor rose to 2.57% from Friday's 2.31%. That is above the Federal Reserve's target overnight rate of 2%. Three-month dollar Libor jumped to 3.88% from 3.76%. Worries about the region's financial resilience also hit the euro and the British pound. The euro fell to $1.4441, while the pound slid to $1.8091.
Hypo Real Estate, which is one of Europe's largest real-estate, project finance and local government lenders, said Monday that it had been bailed out by a consortium of German financial institutions. The company's trouble stemmed from its Depfa Bank subsidiary, which was hit by the recent seizure of short-term lending markets.
Hypo Real Estate's public finance operation, which is conducted through Depfa and comprises just over half the entire company's activities, depended on the markets for 22% of its financing needs, or €54 billion, at the end of June, according to market analysts.
In a conference call with analysts, Chief Executive Georg Funke said obtaining short-term loans had "never been a problem" for Depfa until the collapse of securities firm Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. two weeks ago. He said the bailout would mean the bank wouldn't need to seek financing for the "foreseeable future." Hypo's shares fell 74% Monday.
Glitnir was Iceland's first nationalization since the credit crisis struck last summer. The Icelandic government said that intensified financial-market upheaval in recent weeks had forced its hand, and added that Glitnir still is a solid company and it intends to sell the stake soon. Iceland's currency, the krona, dropped about 4% against the euro following the takeover, hitting its weakest level ever at 143.53.
"The market has feared this for a long time, and now it's happened," said Bjarke Roed-Frederiksen, a Copenhagen economist for Nordea Bank.
Under Watch in Belgium
Belgium's financial regulator Monday said that it is watching developments at Dexia, adding it is in regular contact with the bank. The stock has fallen as various analyst reports have suggested the bank, a specialist lender to municipalities, could face further write-downs on bad investments and be forced to seek a capital injection.
RBS analysts estimate that Dexia could face a €3.7 billion after-tax impairment, which itself would imply a €2 billion rights issue. The Dexia spokeswoman said the bank's board held a meeting Sunday to evaluate the impact of Fortis's troubles.
In Moscow, the new government money comes in addition to a $120 billion rescue package the Kremlin announced earlier this month, after a liquidity crisis paralyzed Russian markets. In addition to the funds for debt repayment, Mr. Putin said he also is pushing the central bank to ease its lending rules to make more money available to banks.
In the last few years, Russian banks and companies took advantage of generous credit terms in the West and borrowed heavily for investment and other projects. Now, many of those short-term loans are coming due, and Russian borrowers are finding Western credit prohibitively expensive, if it is available at all. Analysts estimate at least $50 billion in foreign debts will come due over the next year or so.
European antitrust regulators appear unlikely to be roadblocks to the various bank bailout packages emerging in recent days. In Brussels, a spokesman for European Union antitrust chief Neelie Kroes said the investments made by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg in units of Fortis appear to be at "market rates" and thus not affected by the EU's "state-aid" rules that restrict assistance governments give to companies.
U.K.'s Plan
The U.K.'s nationalization of B&B also seemed not to face any state-aid worries. The spokesman for Ms. Kroes, Jonathan Todd, said the U.K. was submitting a plan for rescue aid, a short-term measure that is generally permitted for companies that haven't been bailed out before.
The U.K.'s plan includes loan guarantees, which are acceptable for six months as part of a rescue-aid package. The government said it intended eventually to extend the duration of the guarantees, a move that would trigger an examination from Brussels.
It wasn't clear whether the EU would get involved in the bailout of Hypo Real Estate. Mr. Todd said the German authorities hadn't discussed the issue with Brussels. The EU's state-aid rules are aimed at preventing national governments from giving unfair advantages to home-country companies, in violation of the bloc's common-market principles.
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