Banks "quietly" borrow $50 billion from Fed: report Mon Feb 18, 9:09 PM ET NEW YORK (Reuters) - Banks in the United States have been quietly borrowing "massive amounts" from the U.S. Federal Reserve in recent weeks, using a new measure the Fed introduced two months ago to help ease the credit crunch, according to a report on the web site of The Financial Times. The newspaper said the use of the Fed's Term Auction Facility (TAF), which allows banks to borrow at relatively attractive rates against a wide range of their assets, saw borrowing of nearly $50 billion of one-month funds from the Fed by mid-February. The Financial Times said the move has sparked unease among some analysts about the stress developing in opaque corners of the U.S. banking system and the banks' growing reliance on indirect forms of government support. (Reporting by Mark McSherry; Editing by Valerie Lee) link
And in other, not-so-good news... http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...x?guid={00DCDB2A-755D-4B25-9CAD-9027F6C9E4DE}[/QUOTE] Citigroup halts withdrawals from hedge fund: report By Simon Kennedy Last update: 5:36 a.m. EST Feb. 15, 2008 LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Citigroup Inc. Citigroup, Inc., has halted withdrawals from one of its hedge funds after investors holding around 30% of the $500 million fund asked for their money back, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Citigroup injected around $100 million into CSO Partners, a fund that specializes in corporate debt, last month in an effort to stabilize it after it lost 11% in 2007, the newspaper said. Investors have been asking to withdraw their money after complaining that the fund's longtime manager John Pickett put too much money into a single investment that went bad. Pickett recently left the fund after a dispute with Citigroup executives and the investor complaints, the report added.
Sounds a little bit like what the UK did for northern rock. Bank gets into trouble, govt helps out, shareholders are protected, tax payers get fucked.....
