Friday, October 03, 2008

Treasury Conference Call



Q: Glenn Schorr, UBS: How do you incentivize if you cant come to clearing price that isn't too punitive?
A: Our objective is not to get everyone to participate so...we won't be paying too much...I can envision a firm taking a loss, because we're giving them cash that they can redeploy. We're soliciting ideas from all over the place.

Q: Guy Moszkowski, Merrill Lynch: Is your goal with the pricing mechanism to inject as much liquidity and capital or is it to force recognition of losses and consolidation so we can see who will survive and who will die.
A: Hard to say either of those extremes. It's a balancing act.

Some guy from Treasury says he wants people to focus on legislation, not implementation. One of his colleagues says he thinks that's a "very good idea."

Q: Mike Mayo, Deutsche Bank: Do banks have the option to purchase insurance or sell assets or does the option remain solely with the treasury once banks decided to participate?
A: Yes banks have the option to choose what program to participate in.
Q: Will insurance premiums be stretched out?
A: We don't know
Q: Will the Treasury still get equity stake in companies that chose insurance? Can the Treasury decide whether or not to let companies participate?
A. The Treasury will consider "long-term viability" of the firm. For the most part, we want to help the healthy banks get healthier as opposed to healing the failing banks.

Q: Mike Holt, Boston Company: when will the treasury start purchasing these assets? Wednesday? A couple weeks?
A: A few weeks, several weeks, once Congress passes bill
Q: But some people will fail before that?
A: We understand.

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