Is the liquidity crunch caused by a shortage of funds or by structural issues that keep money from reaching the real economy? Reuters tackles the question. Quality versus Quantity in Liquidity
China’s Money Trapped in Shadow Banking?
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Are Synthetic CDOs the Problem?
Bankers at Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan Chase failed to put together the first synthetic collateral debt obligation since the 2008 financial crisis. The deal fell apart because investor demand wans’t there. The instruments are blamed for exacerbating the 2008 crisis. Did they? William Cohan on Bloomberg analyzes the CDOs.
The People Versus the President in Brazil
One hundred thousand demonstrators have taken to the streets in Brazil, protesting government corruption and demanding increased public services. This scene is famliar around the world today. Have governments lost touch with the people? Article Demonstrations in Brazil
World Bank Whistleblower Exposes Endemic Corruption & Money Laundering
Karen Hudes
former senior executive at the World Bank discusses her experience whistle blowing on corruption at the highest levels of the international financial system.
Her censored story is now coming to light.
The network of global corporate control
ETH Zurich, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich
The Network of Global Corporate Control Supporting Information
ETH Appendix_19.11.11
More on the German site.
Ministers put straitjacket on bailout fund
Eurozone finance ministers agreed on Thursday (20 June) how its European Stability Mechanism (ESM) can invest in troubled banks, but imposed so many conditions that they may not completely succeed in their goal of separating problem banks from their indebted home countries…article 
U.S. Weighs Doubling Leverage Standard for Biggest Banks
U.S. regulators are considering doubling a minimum capital requirement for the largest banks, which could force some of them to halt dividend payments.
The standard would increase the amount of capital the lenders must hold to 6 percent of total assets, regardless of their risk, according to four people with knowledge of the talks. That’s twice the level set by global banking supervisors…article
Pah, a career in finance is open to anyone – and that includes women
As the Banking Commission calls for more women traders to dispel the ‘male-dominated’ banking culture, former City banker Emma Sinclair claims the City is just as open to female bankers as men. It could just be that finance appeals to men more, she says (quietly)…article 
Should More Bankers Be Jailed?
Pat McFadden, a Labour MP who sat on the commission, said: “Our report is about tackling the cultural and standards failings in banks. From running unacceptable risks with other people’s money to PPI mis-selling, money laundering and Libor interest rate rigging, these failings have been a betrayal of the taxpayers who bailed out the banks and the majority of good honest people who work in the industry.” The Guardian reports. Should More Bankers Be Jailed
Is EU-US Trade Deal a Good Idea?
Whatever your view of the right level of loss-absorbing equity capital in the U.S., the European numbers are alarming. Deutsche Bank does worst, with a Basel III leverage ratio of 2 percent (up only slightly after recent capital raising), while Society Generale SA is at 2.7 percent, and BNP Paribas is at 3.3 percent. (Their Basel III Tier 1 common equity ratios are much closer to the U.S. levels thanks to risk-weighing calculations that are deeply flawed. Simon Johnson comments in Bloomberg. Is Trade Deal Between US and EU a Good Idea
M&T Bank to fix anti-money laundering flaws, Fed says
The Federal Reserve found wide-ranging problems with M&T Bank Corp.’s (MTB) efforts to combat money laundering, a compliance issue that had caused regulators to put a hold on MTB’s $3.7 billion bid to buy Hudson City Bancorp. Artikel
The Fed is requiring M&T to hire an independent consultant to review all accounts and transactions tied to high-risk customers during the last six months of 2012. The consultant should determine whether there was any suspicious activity in those accounts and whether the bank identified any problems. TB has Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc as a major shareholder. Report FED 