As the Free Thought Project reported Thursday, the most prominent bank in Germany is at risk of failure, with potentially profound effects for the EU, the United States and likely the rest of the world. This risk of failure has now gotten so threatening that a number of funds that clear derivatives trades with Deutsche Bank AG have withdrawn excess cash and positions held at the lender, according to Bloomberg.

While the vast majority of the bank’s more than 200 derivatives-clearing clients have made no changes, the hedge funds run on cash highlights serious concern. The paranoia of an imminent collapse spread to the US on Thursday as 10 hedge funds that are Deutsche Bank clients have decided to withdraw cash and listed derivatives positions from the bank, according to a Bloomberg News report.

Millennium Partners, Capula Investment Management and Rokos Capital Management are among about 10 hedge funds that have cut their exposure, said a person familiar with the situation who declined to be identified talking about confidential client matters.

The hedge funds use Deutsche Bank to clear their listed derivatives transactions because they are not members of clearinghouses. Millennium, Capula and Rokos declined to comment when contacted by phone or e-mail.

These funds use Deutsche Bank’s prime brokerage to clear their derivatives trades, reports Bloomberg. They post collateral as a sort of insurance in case they run into trouble — but now they appear to worry that Deutsche Bank is the one in trouble. So they are withdrawing some of their derivatives holdings and excess collateral above what Deutsche Bank requires them to hold.

As Zero Hedge points out, this massive withdrawal of cash has led to a sharp increase in short-term CDS.

“Our trading clients are amongst the world’s most sophisticated investors,” Michael Golden, a spokesman for Deutsche Bank, said in an e-mailed statement.

“We are confident that the vast majority of them have a full understanding of our stable financial position, the current macroeconomic environment, the litigation process in the U.S. and the progress we are making with our strategy.”

But this is simply not true. Deutsche Bank is anything but stable as their shares have fallen sharply on the news that German Chancellor Angela Merkel won’t bail them out. Its shares fell by as much as six percent in early Monday trading, making it the worst performance since 1992. Since January, the bank’s shares have lost over 52 percent of their value.

As news of the bank run spread on Thursday, the ‘stable’ bank’s shares declined below 10 euros for the first time. The lender’s 1.75 billion euros ($2 billion) of 6 percent additional Tier 1 bonds, the first notes to take losses in a crisis, fell as much as five cents on the euro to 69 cents, a record low, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

“The issue here is now one of confidence,” said Chris Wheeler, a financial analyst with Atlantic Equities LLP in London. “That’s what’s going on here. The thinking is ‘Deutsche Bank is fine, but there’s a slim chance it might not be, so why leave my money in there?’”

The possibility of depositors having their funds taken from them as the bank collapses is not at all isolated as it has happened before. As we pointed out, to keep the bank solvent, the Bank of Cyprus took almost 40% of depositors’ funds – leaving customers with essentially nothing they could do about having their money stolen. Assets were frozen and ATM machines were not refilled.

As Jay Syrmopoulos points out, the collapse of Deutsche Bank would most likely begin a cascade of Western banking institutions falling like dominoes (which could include Barclays in London and CitiGroup in the U.S.). According to same expert who valued Lehman’s worth at its collapse, Deutsche Bank’s current value of $1 trillion dollars is significantly more than Lehman Brothers’ valuation during their collapse in 2008.

By Matt Agorist

(Source:  activistpost.com; October 1, 2016; http://tinyurl.com/j2v4hvj)

The post Run on banks begins — Deutsche bank clients begin withdrawing excess cash appeared first on HopeGirl Blog.

Prior to last week, Deutsche Bank made headlines for a string of huge losses and massive exposure to risky derivatives. The last time the firm’s shares traded at prices this low, the world was in the midst of 2008’s financial apocalypse.

Deutsche Bank didn’t need more bad news, but a group of investors who brought suit against the massive German bank for cheating them by rigging the London “fix” price for gold and silver certainly must be smiling. Last week, the bank offered to settle their class action suit for an undisclosed amount.

Perhaps more importantly, DB promises to provide evidence to help the plaintiffs in their suit against the other banks who participated in manipulating the fix: Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays, HSBC and SocGen. In a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Valerie Caproni, the plaintiff’s attorney said, “In addition to valuable monetary consideration, Deutsche Bank has also agreed to provide cooperation to the Plaintiffs, including the production of instant messages and other electronic communications, as part of the settlement.”

If the information DB provides is incriminating, as the plaintiff’s expect, it won’t be the only recent example of bankers getting caught talking smugly amongst themselves about swindling investors and clients. A year ago Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Barclays, and RBS pled guilty to criminally rigging the foreign exchange markets following the leak of some embarrassing communiques.

That case rested, in large part, on logs from an exclusive chat group participants dubbed “The Cartel.”

Here is a good example of the type of conversations contained in those logs. The banker representing Barclays “mentors” another member:

…whats the worst price I can put on this where the customers decision to trade with me or give me future business doesn’t change…if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.

It is not only typical of the kind of thing members discussed. It also pretty well sums up bankers’ attitudes toward the public and their clientele generally.

Big banks have paid nearly $200 billion in fines in nearly 200 cases involving rotten dealings since 2009. Of course, bank CEOs claim no involvement and that each case is an isolated incident involving a few bad apples in the lower ranks. Perhaps there are even a few naive people around who still believe that to be the only extent of the problem.

Authorities, including the CFTC, might find a basis for criminal charges in material that DB provides. It would be nice to see bankers going to jail. The scale of fraud and theft makes Bernie Madoff look like a piker. But don’t hold your breath.

It was the corporations that pled guilty to criminal charges in the Foreign Exchange scandal a year ago, not individuals. The people involved seem to have immunity.

There have been exactly zero “perp walks” by high ranking executives at any of the major banks over the past decade. This despite overwhelming evidence of pervasive fraud in mortgage underwriting, derivatives, commodities trading, and currency markets. Instead, taxpayers pay for the bailouts and company shareholders get to pay the fines or settlements, which are often substantially smaller than the ill-gotten gains. None of the criminal bankers responsible end up in prison.

At least last week’s news is a signal that civil courts may provide some recourse for crowds of people who have been cheated. Since the news, Canadian investors filed two additional class-action suits seeking $1 billion in damages. More suits are likely on the way.

While regulators may be captured by these mega banks, it’s harder to control mobs of angry investors in civil court.

By Clint Siegner

Clint Siegner is a Director at Money Metals Exchange, the national precious metals company named 2015 “Dealer of the Year” in the United States by an independent global ratings group. A graduate of Linfield College in Oregon, Siegner puts his experience in business management along with his passion for personal liberty, limited government, and honest money into the development of Money Metals‘ brand and reach. This includes writing extensively on the bullion markets and their intersection with policy and world affairs.

(Source:  activistpost.com; April 20, 2016; http://tinyurl.com/zcx242n)

The post Deutsche bank settles lawsuit for price rigging, turns “state’s evidence” on other banks appeared first on HopeGirl Blog.