from:Money Morning [[email protected]]"I'm...

from:


Money Morning [[email protected]]

"I'm talking about the near collapse of the Australian banking system in 2008. I'm talking about the likelihood of two Australian banks collapsing in 2008 if they hadn't secured a secret loan from the US Federal Reserve.

The fact that National Australia Bank [ASX: NAB] had to borrow USD$4.5 billion from the US Federal Reserve during 2008 and 2009.

And Westpac Banking Corp [ASX: WBC] needed USD$1.09 billion in January of 2008 and 2009.

What's that, you don't know anything about it?

And you don't remember reading about it?

There's a simple reason for that. It's been top secret information until yesterday morning.

That's right, if it wasn't for the passing of controversial legislation in the United States you'd never have found out about NAB and Westpac's Federal Reserve bail outs.

And based on the lack of interest from the mainstream press ? including Australia's so-called premium business newspaper, if it wasn't for Money Morning you'd still be none the wiser.

The one and only article we've found that mentions it is this one from The Age, headlined "NAB, Westpac tapped Fed".

It appears to be an adaptation of a New York Times article based on the reference at the end, with localised bits added by Eric Johnston. But this one pathetic effort shows just how clueless the Australian mainstream press is.

Johnston makes this comment:

"The Westpac borrowings are unusual, as it barely has a North American presence, operating only a US representative office."

Seriously, do I really need to explain it to a veteran journalist?

Talk about not being able to see the wood for the trees. Talk about not getting it.

Here's a clue for Mr. Johnston, it wasn't Westpac's US office that needed the dosh, it was Westpac in Australia that needed it. It shows you that without the direct financial support of the US Federal Reserve Westpac and NAB would have been toast.

Westpac and NAB needed the loans because they were on the verge of going belly up. It's that simple. If they hadn't gotten secret loans from the US Fed they would undoubtedly have needed secret loans from the RBA.

Fortunately for the RBA, the Fed opened the door and this allowed Aussie central bankers and bankers to claim that the Aussie banks hadn't received a bailout.

But not only that, what's most extraordinary is that Westpac was one of the first institutions to borrow money from the Fed when the lending facility became available!

But more about that in a moment. Let me give you some of the background first?

You may have read about something called the Dodd-Frank Act. The full name is the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It's called Dodd-Frank after the bill's sponsors, US Senator Chris Dodd, and Representative Barney Frank.

The legislation mandates a number of things, but part of it is the requirement for the US Federal Reserve to reveal which institutions it loaned money to under the various bail out programmes.

One of those programmes was titled the Term Auction Facility (TAF). According to the Fed's website:

"Under the program, the Federal Reserve auctioned 28-day loans, and, beginning in August 2008, 84-day loans, to depository institutions in generally sound financial condition?

"?Of those institutions, primary credit, and thus also the TAF, is available only to institutions that are financially sound."

OK, so only "financially sound" institutions were eligible for TAF loans. That would be financially sound institutions such as LloydsTSB plc which got a USD$10.5 billion loan from the Fed and which later had to be partially nationalised by the UK government.

It would also include ABN Amro Bank which grabbed USD$1.5 billion of loans from the Fed, and which would later cause such a financial strain on Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) after RBS bought it that the UK government had to partially nationalise it too.

Not to mention the USD$53.5 billion of loans RBS needed directly.

Then there was Allied Irish Bank, who could forget it? The Irish certainly won't.

Between February 2009 and February 2010 Allied Irish Bank needed USD$34.7 billion of loans from the Fed. Allied Irish Bank also had all its obligations guaranteed by the Irish taxpayer and is the primary reason why Ireland now requires an International Monetary Fund and European Union bailout to the tune of $113 billion.

And what about Bayerische Landesbank which needed a USD$13.4 billion bailout from the state of Bavaria? Well, apparently it was financially sound enough to borrow USD$108.19 billion between December 2007 and October 2009.

So, we can take with a grain of salt the Fed's claim that only "financially sound" institutions had access to the TAF programme. Financially unsound and insolvent banks were given loans too.

And in the middle of all that wheeling and dealing, when a total of nearly USD$4 trillion was loaned to and repaid by "financially sound" institutions, Australia's very own National Australia Bank and Westpac were in on the action too.

Although it was only a relatively small amount compared to some of the other transactions, it was still USD$4.5 billion and USD$1.09 billion respectively. But it was still a lot more than the USD$1.5 billion needed by financially unsound ABN Amro.

Also don't forget that the NAB went to the Australian stock market in late 2008 to raise $3 billion. That was a sum it needed to bolster its capital.

If $3 billion was a significant and important number for the market to know about then surely USD$4.5 billion (about AUD$7 billion at the time) was even more crucial for the market to be aware of.

But there wasn't a peep from them.

Because as I say, you didn't know anything about the NAB's and Westpac's Fed loans. It was all top secret.

And it's obvious that $3 billion capital raising still wasn't enough because NAB had to go begging to the Fed twice after that for $1.5 billion a time.

But as I say, you didn't hear a word about this at the time. It was all top secret. But that didn't stop the bankers and regulators and politicians from posturing about the stability and strength of Australian banks.

In January 2008 Westpac denied there was a problem with its US exposure. That's despite the fact just one month before, on December 20th 2007 Westpac had gotten a USD$90 million loan from the Federal Reserve under the TAF programme."