Hilariously named research firm "Gimme Credit" doesn't want to go the way of Bove, or any of the perps Jamie Dimon's got his eye on, but felt that it could not in good conscience not let you know that a loss of liquidity could spell trubs for Washington Mutal. Sayeth GC:
We do not want to be accused of screaming "fire!" in a bank lobby, as John Reich, the director of the OTS (WaMu's primary regulator), said recently. We won't use the phrase "run" on the bank, but we would be remiss if we did not observe that many creditors have quietly been pulling funds from the bank. For example, Fed Funds purchased and commercial paper declined $75 million at 6/30/08, down $2.0 billion at year-end and $3.4 billion a year ago. Securities sold under agreements to repurchase are down to $214 million, from $4.1 billion and $9.4 billion for the year-end and prior-year, respectively. Other borrowings are $30.6 billion, versus $39.0 billion in December. With unsecured creditors taking a giant step backwards, the combined percentage of the balance sheet funded by deposits and the Federal Home Loan Banks has increased to 78% up from 75% at year-end and 71% a year ago. Small wonder Mr. Reich is feeling testy.
Posted by guest , Jul 24, 2008 4:38PM
Suppose you had a LOC at WaMu, with a few thousand bucks still available under it. Would you be cutting yourself a check on the remainder of that line just to make sure you actually got the benefit of that money? You know, before the feds swoop in?
Posted by HAM05 , Jul 24, 2008 4:56PM
suppose you take out a large personal loan from wamu - any chance of not having to pay it back?
got that extended paid vacation itch...
Posted by Anal_yst , Jul 24, 2008 4:59PM
hmmm, Ham, I like where your heads at, how about a fat business loan, better yet, wouldn't mind taking an extended trip on Devaney's former yacht
Posted by guest , Jul 24, 2008 5:08PM
You have been watching too much Sopranos
Posted by guest , Jul 24, 2008 5:19PM
How about an over/under on days until WaMu becomes the new IndyMac?
Posted by michange , Jul 24, 2008 6:45PM
Lets not short WaMu.
Posted by guest , Jul 24, 2008 8:54PM
Gimme Credit moved into the vacated dot.com space next to my old office. I assumed at the time that they were the HQ for some payday lending type operation, given their name and the general downturn. Good for them being a truly independent corporate bond analysis firm. I hope any legal action brings them more business.