Banks can’t hide from the pain of underwater bond investments

29 November 2022Banks, Risk CommentaryAccounting, government bonds, interest rate risk, investments, mortgage-backed securitiesNick Dunbar

The biggest US banks amassed $2.2 trillion of government and mortgage bond investments, but now the portfolios are underwater and banks must hold them to avoid recording losses. This will have a lasting effect on deposits and the impact of Fed policy.

Visualising China’s emerging market lending splurge

16 April 2020EconomicsChina, Covid-19, government bondsNick Dunbar

Emerging market nations may struggle to repay debt in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. And for many the biggest lender is China, as a new visualisation shows.

Tracking the frontier markets debt bubble

23 July 2018EconomicsAfrica, Emerging markets, frontier markets, government bondsNick Dunbar

Frontier market sovereigns are splurging on new borrowing just as investors are cooling on the asset class. A Risky Finance visualisation tool identifies the countries you need to watch.

Niedrigzinsangst

29 October 2014Insurancecentral banks, deflation, government bonds, insurance, interest rate risk, Stress testsNick Dunbar

Why can't the ECB bring itself to stress test banks for deflation? I was thinking about this question when I remembered an episode from the past. Just over ten years ago, I took a train from Frankfurt to the sleepy spa town of Wiesbaden. It was the sort of place where a lone taxi is…