THE Fortis Thread (merged) ( was Fortis chairman predicts

Mesuge

Socrates> remember the end of roaring 1920s ? And that crash came about relatively fast both in the US/Europe/Worldwide, now it can play out only that much faster.

The signs are all there, rising energy demand/no supply, no new rafineries, oil company investment funds not proping up the free falling stock of Detroit anymore, ... , writing is on the wall..

The "positive message" is in the proportionality, as an example if the U.S. economy gets hit by 80% destruction, the E.U. only by 55% etc.. hah
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DOOMerotron: at all-time high [8.1] out of 10..

lorenzo · Fission Joined: Jan 01, 2005 Posts: 2231

DantesPeak

I have tried to find out more details about Fortis said, without much success. Anyway someone else agrees with what they said about General Motors:

jdmartin

I searched and it appears to be a hoax as far as I can see. I suspected as much, because I don't believe for a second that CEOs are going to make public any kind of knowledge they might have or suspect about a global economic meltdown. They're going to save their own asses first, and that doesn't include making your stock options worthless.

My guess is people won't know what's hitting them until it's already hit them - they're not going to get an "Oh, by the way" from some CEO somewhere...
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After fueling up their cars, Twyman says they bowed their heads and asked God for cheaper gas.There was no immediate answer, but he says other motorists joined in and the service station owner didn't run them off.

Gerben

JustaGirl

Well just look at the Dow right now, down 166. This is bad, real bad Sad

DantesPeak

Fences · Coal Joined: Mar 25, 2006 Posts: 10

I second Gerben and Lorenzo, this is true, not a hoax at all. I am Belgian, this story has been all over the main quality newspapers and state TV for the last couple of days.

As far as I understand, Votron (CEO of Fortis) is hedging against an expected financial meltdown in the US, and he is backed by Lippens, the chairman. And they're even taking an 68% free-fall in shares value as an acceptible consequence. Still seems credible to me.

I double checked the link and can confirm everything Lorenzo states in his post about the newsitem on Belgian (actually flemmish) state TV. Seems like some sensible people (a ceo and a chairman of a major Belgian-Dutch bank) have finally made a stand.

JJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 430

{quote abbreviated per CoC}

Homesteader

Anything is possible I suppose. However here are a few more links:

AMSTERDAM (Thomson Financial) - Expectations at Fortis that the U.S. markets are on the verge of "meltdown" were behind the Benelux bank's decision last week to launch a sweeping recapitalisation programme, said chairman Maurice Lippens. "We were saved at the last minute. Things in the U.S. are going far worse that people think," Lippens said in an interview with De Telegraaf. link

" AMSTERDAM: The supervisory board chairman of Fortis defended the Dutch-Belgian bank's measure to shore up its finances, saying they were taken because banks would likely face more trouble ahead.
Chairman Maurice Lippens said on Friday the bank had taken extraordinary measures due to the exceptional circumstances. "We do it because the economic circumstances and what we see in America make us think it will get a lot worse before it gets better," Lippens told Dutch broadcaster RTL Z in an interview." link

Has Fortis denied the statement?
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"The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to a close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences…"
Sir Winston Churchill

DantesPeak

JJ - no offense but first we are not allowed to quote a story - or perhaps a blog - at length. Just give part of the article and the link.

Secondly, I have checked various news sources (for which I lack time to find all over again) that did confirm the basic premise of this thread. So the blog complaining about other bloggers is basically wrong, except for the long winded explanation that some blogs can blow things out of proportion. That may be true sometimes, but not this time.

Anyway I posted on the credit collapse thread before all these predictions came out with essentially the same comments. So whether Fortis or someone else says we are having a financial collapse of some sort or not, we are still going to have one - like it or not.
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It's already over, now it's just a matter of adjusting.

SchroedingersCat · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 26, 2005 Posts: 536

When the credit crunch started all the players had each others' backs. News was kept to a minimum. Everyone was saying this is only a blip, things will turn around soon.

Things have taken an ugly turn as it has become apparent that it's not getting better, and won't anytime soon. Rating agencies are slashing ratings to try and keep some shred of credibility. Banks are pointing out the liabilities of each other in an attempt to keep their stock above water.

I think what Fortis has done is just such a move. They are in trouble and are trying to re-capitalize to save their skins and are trash-talking the rest of the industry to divert suspicion. I think we will see more of this behavior from the big players.
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Civilization is a personal choice.

JJ · Heavy Crude Joined: Aug 07, 2007 Posts: 430

eXpat · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Jun 08, 2006 Posts: 1075