U.S. Drafts Sweeping Plan to Fight Crisis As Turmoil Worsens in Credit Markets |
In the midst of the worst credit crisis in our lifetimes, the Federal government is drafting a plan to get the bad assets off the books of lending institutions around the country in a bid to restore confidence and liquidity to the national banking system. Included in the plan is a move to provide federal insurance to money market funds which are experiencing a wave of redemptions.
~~John Cronin~~
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122177442732653979.html
Paulson Briefs Congress on Idea to Buy Bad Assets From Banks, Insure Money-Market Funds; Stocks Rebound Sharply
By DEBORAH SOLOMON and DAMIAN PALETTA
WASHINGTON –
Tags: AIG, Federal Reserve, Lehman Bros., SEC, Sen. Harry ReidThe federal government is working on a sweeping series of programs that would represent perhaps the biggest intervention in financial markets since the 1930s, embracing the need for a comprehensive approach to the financial crisis after a series of ad hoc rescues.
At the center of the potential plan is a mechanism that would take bad assets off the balance sheets of financial companies, said people familiar with the matter, a device that echoes similar moves taken in past financial crises. The size of the entity could reach hundreds of billions of dollars, one person said.
Another proposal would be the creation of federal insurance for investors in money-market mutual funds, coverage akin to the insurance that currently safeguards bank deposits. The move is designed to stem an outflow of funds as consumers start to worry about even the safest of investments, a sign of how the crisis is spreading to Main Street. There is $3.4 trillion in money-market funds outstanding.
In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission is set to propose a temporary ban on short-selling. It’s not clear how broadly the ban might extend, but it could apply only to financial stocks.
Details of the plan were still being worked out Thursday night and could be delivered to Congress in “hours,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
The administration had been taking a patchwork approach to the financial crisis, putting out fires as they ignited. The new moves represent an effort to take a more systematic approach, after a spiral of bad debts, credit downgrades and tumbling stocks brought down venerable names from investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. to insurance giant American International Group Inc. Banks have grown unwilling to lend to one another, a sign of extreme stress, because financial markets work only when institutions have faith in each other’s ability to meet their obligations.
Word of the plan came the same day as the Federal Reserve and other major central banks offered hundreds of billions of dollars in loans to commercial banks to alleviate a deepening freeze in the world’s credit markets. That step appeared to have moderate impact on lending among banks. Meanwhile, a wave of redemptions continued hitting money-market funds, causing a second large fund to shut to investors.
