Thursday, April 23, 2009

Fed Reports Over 30% Loss On Bear Stearns Mortgage Loans

Nothing like purchasing a major investment bank on the verge of bankruptcy with no due diligence (actually Ken Lewis would beg to differ). The Fed has reported a loss of 28% on its commercial mortgage loans and 38% on residential mortgage loans as a result of its participation in Maiden Lane, the Bear Stearns bail out vehicle.

It is curious if these are comparable loans to the ones that Citi still has provisioned at 95 cents on the dollar on its balance sheet. Of course an incremental 23% loss provision on Citi's massive CRE book would immediately destroy any excess/Tier 1/tangible/"what have you" capital the bank pretends to have. But then again this is merely and apples to apples comparison. As every sane person knows nothing rational in this market/country at this point makes any sense.

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