[TOP SECRET: Thanks to the investigations,
the UK's (the only friend of America) TRIPLE AAA status
is going to be re-adjusted ....uhm... downward.
13% defecit this year (worse than Greece),
68% debt-to-GDP (worse than Spain and Portugal),
400% total debt-to-GDP(worst in the world)]
Actually, the numbers are correct but the
downgrade idea was bullsh*t and conjecture, but...
Not even 24 hours later, there comes the first warning shot about the British credit rating.
Let me explain:
I felt this would happen because of Moody's and S&P being under investigation, and my belief that they and the hedgers are working on behalf of the US government, to attack the Euro, in order to save the dollar from falling.
Britain, being a friend of the US, did not suffer an attack on the pound currency.
they were leaving the UK alone, at AAA status.
and having closed the mines and iron smelters... to spite the workers,
and having deep-sixed state schooling, to spite the working class.
I suppose they were all waiting to drop this into the lap of the new government, seeing as there's a minority government coming from tonight's election.
The rules say that the winner has to get a majority, or else Gordon Brown can try to make a coalition, even though his party is second.
Gordo knows what might come if the Moody's scandal crashes, and it just did.
If Crash Gordon fails to form a government, then at the briefing of the new PM,
-Costick67 (8^P
* most of the banks are owned by the 'libertarian' government. Imagine how screwed these banks would have to be for Free-market Gordon to buy them. He could have given the banks money, like the US did. Actually, it's sneaky owning the banks, because behind the scenes you can continue to pay for their losses.
And, the resurrected banks aren't lending money, because they don't have any.
checkitout: guardian.co.uk [of course, they forget to mention the investigation of Moody's]
Moody's warns of Greek debt crisis creating new UK credit crunch
UK bank shares fall after Moody's credit-rating agency warns of risk from sovereign debt downgrade
Fears that Greece's sovereign debt crisis could spill into the banking sector and prompt another credit crunch hammered bank share prices today amid warnings that Britain's banks remain "vulnerable".
Shares in the major banks dominated the top 10 fallers in the FTSE 100, led by Barclays, which ended 6% lower at 301p. The falls wiped out any lingering hopes that a new government would be able to point to gains on the taxpayers' stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland, which plunged through their break-even levels.
The shares fell after Moody's ratings agency warned that Britain's banks were "vulnerable" and could take a hit to their profitability if the country's sovereign debt rating is downgraded.
In an assessment of the crisis gripping Greece and the eurozone, Moody's warned that banks in the UK and Ireland as well as those in Portugal, Spain and Italy all faced challenges if the countries suffered the same fate as Greece in being downgraded by the credit-rating agencies.
The warning by Moody's came as analysts at the French bank BNP Paribas calculated that one of the measures they use to measure risk of defaults had reached "unprecedented" levels, topping those registered in the days after Lehman Brothers collapsed in September 2008.
"The market is implying that the financial system is backed by the sovereigns," said Rajeev Shah, credit strategist at BNP Paribas. "A lot of the risk has moved from the financial system to the sovereigns but if contagion keeps spreading it effectively moves back to the financial system."
He made his remarks after analysing an index that measures credit default swap prices – which assess the risk of default – on a number of banks and comparing it with one that measures top-rated credits. The difference is now five times larger than it was when Lehman collapsed.
The Moody's analysis followed the downgrading of Greece to "junk" status. While Greece has slumped to "junk" status and the UK currently enjoys a top-notch triple-A rating – if Britain took even a small downgrade, the government's borrowing costs would increase and would also be felt by the banking sector. The UK banking industry is four times larger than Britain's gross domestic product. "In the UK the weakness of the banks has had a large impact on the economy, given the banking sector's relatively large contribution to GDP. Any impact on sovereign creditworthiness can therefore have a relatively strong impact on the banking system and vice versa," Moody's said.
"At the same time, the generally accepted need to reduce leverage in the system will be challenging as it can have severe consequences on GDP," the agency it said.
It noted that the crisis that has struck Greece meant that its banks were "almost totally reliant" on the European Central Bank for their funding as international banks were reluctant to lend to them. "Market pressure on the Greek government has also affected Greek banks as market participants are no longer prepared to roll over Greek bank or sovereign bank debt," Moody's said.
"There has been little impact of the banking crisis in Italy and the Greek sovereign issue has also, to date, not had a major impact on Italian banks. However, the potential for a Mediterranean contagion in investors' perceptions, leading to pressure on banking systems, remains our biggest concern," Moody's said.
Banks in France and Germany are among those with the largest direct exposure to Greece and yesterday The French bank BNP Paribas revealed it had €5bn (£4.2bn) of the country's debt and €3bn of loans to Greek companies.
"The banking systems of Portugal, Spain, but also Ireland, the UK and Italy are increasingly moving into the focus of the markets. Although the challenges in these six countries are different, the potential for contagion from their sovereign [credit profile] as observed in Greece is also spreading to some other countries and to the extent this affects these countries it could dilute some of the inherent differences in the banking systems and impose a common threat," Moody's said. Moody's said the concerns over Greece could spread to Portugal – which is at the forefront of investor concerns – but also Spain, Italy, Ireland, Greece and the UK. "A key factor ... will be the market's view of likely success or otherwise of the recently agreed IMF and European Union support package," it said.
see also:
UK budget deficit 'to surpass Greece's as worst in EU'
European commission's spring forecasts put UK budget deficit this year at 12% of GDP – the highest in the European Union and worse than Treasury estimates
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/may/05/uk-budget-deficit-worse-than-greece
