Thursday, October 17, 2013

Who are the rent extractors and who the rent payers of current bank regulations?

The pillar of current bank regulations is capital requirements for banks based on perceived risk, a.k.a. risk-weights. The more risk the more capital the much less “risk” the much less capital. 

That means that the rent extractors are:




1. The bankers, whose dream of making high equity return on what is perceived as “absolutely safe” has come through… that is of course until they discover the ex ante perceptions were, ex post, wrong.

2. "The Infallible": the "sovereigns, the housing sector and the AAAristocracy; namely those who will have much more access, in much better terms, to bank credit.

And that means that the rent squeezed payers are:



1. "The Risky”: medium and small businesses, entrepreneurs and star ups, namely those who will have much less access and in much worse terms, to bank credit.

2. And of course all the unemployed youth who will find their possibilities in life to gain access to decent and sturdy jobs much reduced by this senseless regulatory risk aversion.