Member Info for bigsmoke

Lol - nice one no m

Yup:)

Teamwork :)

Ps - Odey going long on st least one bank stock

Fuller article
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-8138591/Hedge-fund-tycoon-Crispin-Odey-cashed-2009-crash-hes-115m-crisis.html

Hedge fund tycoon Crispin Odey makes £115million from this month's coronavirus stock market crash - and now he's betting on a recovery

Https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8138609/Hedge-fund-tycoon-Crispin-Odey-makes-115million-months-coronavirus-stock-market-crash.html

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https://www.ft.com/content/29ba668a-6ac0-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

While banks are confident about surviving the crisis, there will be some significant short-term pain. Nationwide, the second-largest mortgage lender, withdrew all its tracker mortgage products on Friday after a second emergency interest rate cut in as many weeks brought rates to a record low, highlighting the pressure on lenders’ profit margins. 

The rate cuts alone will knock hundreds of millions of pounds from the annual profits of each of the largest banks, even before taking into account the likely increase in loan defaults precipitated by the shutdown of large parts of the economy.

One investor, a top-20 shareholder in several UK banks, said: “You can forget dividends and buybacks?.?.?.?accounting performance for the next few quarters will look very ugly because of the procyclicality of IFRS9” — new accounting rules that force banks to recognise loan losses earlier than in the past. 

But he added: “The long-term cash or capital impact should be more muted than the move in share prices has implied. The scale of what was announced [by the Treasury and Bank of England] is a strong signal that they’re not going to allow the worst to come to pass.”

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https://www.ft.com/content/29ba668a-6ac0-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

But hundreds of local branches have closed their doors as staff were forced into self-isolation or branches needed to be closed for deep cleaning after coming into contact with confirmed cases of the virus. 

By Friday afternoon more than 20 per cent of TSB’s 500 branches had been affected, with either complete closures or reduced opening hours. Metro Bank abandoned its long-held commitment to unusually long opening hours and more banks including HSBC are expected to announce reductions in hours in the coming days.

Behind the scenes, the banks have also been rushing to keep up with pledges made by the chancellor such as a commitment to provide three-month mortgage holidays and a £1bn loan guarantee scheme for small businesses. 

“The actual [act of] offering a holiday isn’t too hard — a lot of products now come with the ability to ask for that,” one banker said. “It’s just how do we make it work for the numbers that are now expected?”

Lloyds, for example, developed a new online application process for repayment holiday requests from scratch over the past week. A senior executive at another high-street bank said: “If someone rings up and they’re up to date with their payments and say they need a holiday, we’re just saying yes?.?.?.?we’ve just got to provide.”

Alongside mortgage holidays for retail customers, banks are key to a government effort to provide emergency funding for small businesses and are in discussions with the Treasury about a further programme to help larger companies that lack an investment-grade credit rating, said one person involved in the talks.

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https://www.ft.com/content/29ba668a-6ac0-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

Another senior banker said that what started as a “trickle” of requests for funding from business customers earlier this month had more than tripled last week and was expected to grow “exponentially” in the next few weeks. Despite this, Mr Lynam added: “The big difference is last time there was a liquidity crisis?.?.?.?now the system is awash with cash.”

With executives confident about the underlying health of the financial system, the clearest signs of strain have been in frontline customer-facing roles where it is harder for staff to work from home. Santander, for example, apologised to customers after the combination of surging demand and a lack of staff pushed wait times on its phone lines as high as five hours.

British banks have so far not followed foreign peers such as Commerzbank and JPMorgan in announcing mass branch closures owing in part to political pressure to maintain access to cash for vulnerable customers.

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https://www.ft.com/content/29ba668a-6ac0-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

António Horta-Osório, Lloyds Bank chief executive, was one of several senior executives reassuring investors last week that the unfolding crisis was “not like the last one”, which started in the banking system and nearly led to Lloyds’ collapse. Now, retail banks are working to make sure it stays that way.

Britain’s big lenders are confident that their balance sheets are strong enough to withstand the hit of coronavirus after a decade of rising capital requirements and supporting measures introduced by the Bank of England over the past two weeks.

Instead, their main concern has been grappling with the practical challenges of maintaining service and preparing for a potentially massive influx of demand from customers in financial difficulty. “This feels like the calm before the storm,” said Paul Lynam, chief executive of Secure Trust Bank and a board member at industry body UK Finance.

Lenders have strong balance sheets but customer service amid huge demand is a problem

https://www.ft.com/content/29ba668a-6ac0-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

Amers , the post was quoting the article

https://twitter.com/ukftweets/status/1241258350530174977?s=21

THE Bank of England made perhaps its most significant intervention in the coronavirus crisis so far today, cancelling so-called “stress tests” on the major lenders.

That move is intended to help banks support employers and the wider economy without having to worry that they will later fall foul of the regulators.

The tests measure whether the top eight banks, and Nationwide Building Society, would survive a major economic crash.

The banks passed the last exam in December, with another due in late March.

There has been pressure from the banking sector to bin the next stress tests given the severity of the unfolding health emergency and the need to back businesses.

The move to ditch the tests does suggest some lenders would presently fail.

The Bank, led by Andrew Bailey since Monday – he replaced Mark Carney – said: “The decision to cancel the 2020 stress test for the eight major UK banks and building societies is intended to help lenders focus on meeting the needs of UK households and businesses via the continuing provision of credit.”

Bank shares rose somewhat amid a wider market recovery. In particular, the new breed of “challenger” banks enjoyed a bounce. Virgin Money was up 25% at 73p. Metro Bank gained 5% to 87p.

https://www.standard.co.uk/business/bank-of-england-takes-off-the-shackles-from-lenders-a4393096.html

As said, could be the result of the recent short move.?

Stay safe and well. And remember to wash hands every two hours.

sir matlot, nice to know that the stock on loan is stated as "right to recall"...
also, the swaps expire end october, about 12 months from merlot man, and are subject to "monthly resets"

uch, sold out at 130p this morning with small profit.
had same feeling as you Amers, but just think retail good get humped a bit more near term

16:27:10 20-Mar-2020 84.40 GBX 1 1.10 Off-book ACTX XOFF

pione3r
19 Mar 2020 21:56
"Expect MEGA DROP tomorrow or Monday. If not I'll delete my account."