Dimon rolls trading dice with excess capital

13 June 2024Banks, Risk Commentarybank capital, Basel rules, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Federal Reserve, JP Morgan, share buybacks, Stress tests, tradingNick Dunbar

The Fed softened its stress tests, which freed up bank capital, then came the Basel Endgame which would eat it all up again. Now, with the Endgame in doubt, JP Morgan has deployed its excess capital in trading bets

The Fed’s troubling stress test calculations

12 July 2018BanksCCAR, Stress testsNick Dunbar

The Fed’s annual stress tests and capital analysis amount to a contest between the regulator’s models of large banks in a crisis and those of the banks themselves. The latest disclosures suggest troubling flaws in the Fed’s calculations.

The Taser and the choke lead: How the Fed restrains big banks

9 August 2016FinancialsCCAR, Dodd-Frank Act, Federal Reserve, JP Morgan, operational risk, operational RWAs, regulation, Stress testsNick Dunbar

Operational risk capital for US banks is the highest in the world but the Fed resists formally testing op risk in its stress tests. One reason might be that the Fed would have to explain why the charges need to be so high.

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…