Although the MSM has spun the Greek default as 'Debt Swapping', the fact of the matter is that Private investors have lost billions of Euros while the total debt of the Greek people has increased rather than being diminished. The implications of this event are momentous as other nations are sure to follow suit. But the real crisis will come soon enough because nations, especially those with weak Economies and high indebtedness, will be punished by having to offer much higher rates of interest on their bonds or not being able to raise money in Private Markets at all. This will lead to much higher money printing by Central Banks such as the Fed and the ECB, which in turn will bring high inflation and eventually hyperinflation to the world, completely destroying the Global Economy as an unintended or fully intended consequence.
_______________________________________________________________From Mark J Grant, author of Out of the Box and onto Wall Street
The Rub
We all have been staring at the Greek sovereign debt and then the Greek CDS contracts. It was 1/13/10 when I first predicted that Greece would default and what a long and winding road it has been; similar to some hallucinogenic experience manufactured by Timothy Leary. Sometime soon, given what has taken place, I expect the ratings agencies to place Greece in “Default” and with their banks following. The markets are “Ho-Humming” and the conversations revolves around “Net” CDS exposure and the write-downs that have already taken place at the European banks. Please recall AIG and what happened with Lehman and what do we find this morning; KA Finanz, the Austrian bad bank, faces $1.32 billion in losses due to their exposure to the Greek CDS contracts according to a Bloomberg article. So now we will wait and see who else is on the hook, who may be seriously impaired, because the Gross number of about $79 billion for Greek CDS is about to enter center stage.
It Gets Far Worse
I hold up my hand, “One moment please” as I introduce you to the 800 pound Greek Gorilla that is about to enter the room. Allow me to now present to you the “OTHER” Greek debt that is outstanding and will have to be accounted for as the country defaults. Detailed below are some of the “OTHER” sovereign obligations of the Greek government which have now been submitted to the ISDA and I list some of them below. You will note that there are bank bonds, Hellenic Railway bonds, Urban Transportation bonds et al that are guaranteed by Greece. You will also note that there are bonds tied to Inflation, Floating Rate Notes, Asset-Backed securities and a whole mélange of other structured products with a Greek sovereign guarantee. What we all thought was fact is now clearly fiction and default will now bring “Acceleration” one could reasonably bet in all kinds of these securitizations and in all kinds of currencies. This could come from the ratings agencies placing Greece in “Default” or it could come from the CDS contracts being triggered depending upon each indenture and you will also note that a great many of these off balance sheet securitizations are governed by English Law and not Greek Law.You may also wish to consider the fallout to the banking system as the lead managers of all of these deals could find themselves behind the eight ball as various clauses trigger and as the holders of these securitizations line up at the judicial bench [ZH note: there is a reason why Allen & Overy is getting paid $1500 an hour to indemnify ISDA with a plethora of exculpation clauses - they know what is coming] The ISDN numbers are on all of these securities and the lead managers may be found on Bloomberg or other sources as well as the holders of the debt. The curtain just lifted and the show is about to get way too interesting!
The full ISDA list may be found here:
http://www2.isda.org/preliminary-greek-obligations/
http://www2.isda.org/preliminary-greek-obligations/
No comments:
Post a Comment