Roubini warns US banking system effectively insolvent
Losses in the US financial system may reach $3.6 trillion (£2.6 trillion) before the credit crisis is over, suggesting the country's banks are "effectively insolvent", according to the man who predicted the current economic meltdown.
By James Quinn, Wall Street CorrespondentLast Updated: 6:26PM GMT 20 Jan 2009
Roubini warns US banking system effectively insolvent
Professor Nouriel Roubini said half of the estimated losses would come from banks and broker-dealers, placing further pressures on an already heavily-laden system.
"It means the US banking system is effectively insolvent because it starts with a capital of $1,400bn. This is a systemic banking crisis," he said.
To date, global losses and write-downs as a result of the crisis, which was triggered by the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage sector, total about $1 trillion.
The New York University professor's comments were in part responsible for pushing banking shares lower on Tuesday. Citigroup fell 11pc and Bank of America lost 15pc.
Banks were also impacted by news of heavy losses at institutional money manager State Street's commercial paper and investment arm, sending its' shares down as much as 50pc, its worst one-day slump in 24 years.
Speaking in Dubai, Professor Roubini said: "The problems of Citi, Bank of America and others suggest the system is bankrupt. In Europe, it's the same thing."
His warning comes just a day after the UK's second phase in its own banking bail-out, and after Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and Citi last week reported almost $26bn of fourth-quarter losses.
"We have got a crippled financial sector, not only in the US but across the globe," said Keith Wirtz, chief investment officer of Fifth Third Asset Management.
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