14 October, 2011

It Is A Very Good Move That Banks Become Far More Conservative

I think it is a very good move that banks become far more conservative because banks, when you think of it, your salary is probably paid into a bank account and you expect that money to be available to you at any time. So the bank has a fiduciary function, and it has a certain social function. And with your deposit, the banks should not go and speculate.

So my proposal is basically to ring fence the depositors, and the domestic operation that is the traditional bank, and then farm out into separate entity what the bank does with money in terms of hedge fund activity. There are a lot of banks they are just like hedge funds. They take huge positions here and there, and then we have losses - as occurred for UBS in London, that basically should not be your concern as a depositor. - in Bloomberg

Stocks: Bank Of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), JP Morgan (JPM)

Marc Faber is an international investor known for his uncanny predictions of the stock market and futures markets around the world.