Geithner Sucks and Pass/Pass*

A hilarious video on bank stress test.




WSJ reports how some banks battled with the government and managed to force government to make concessions and lower the capital requirement.

Here are some interesting excerpts:

At times, frustrations boiled over. Negotiations with Wells Fargo, where Chairman Richard Kovacevich had publicly derided the stress tests as "asinine," were particularly heated, according to people familiar with the matter. Government officials worried San Francisco-based Wells might file a lawsuit contesting the Fed's findings.

...
Wells Fargo's capital hole shrank to $13.7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Before adjusting for first-quarter results and other factors, the figure was $17.3 billion, according to a federal document.

...
Citigroup's capital shortfall was initially pegged at roughly $35 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. The ultimate number was $5.5 billion. Executives persuaded the Fed to include the future capital-boosting impacts of pending transactions.

...
Bank of America's final gap was $33.9 billion, down from an earlier estimate of more than $50 billion, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

And government used tier 1 capital ratio instead of TCE ratio to measure capital adequacy.

Tags: banking, stress test, zombie banks, bailout