Sheila Blair, hoofd van de Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., twijfelde of de banken van Wall Street in 2011 de onzekere economische omstandigheden wel aan zouden kunnen. Iran, de olieprijzen, de voortdurende Europese crisis. Er was niet veel nodig om ze opnieuw door het ijs te laten zakken. Die banken hadden alle denknbare reserves nodig om zich in te dekken voor nieuw onheil. De verrassing was dan ook groot toen besloten werd 33 miljard dollar aan dividend uit te keren. The Atlantic/ProPublica reconstrueerde, in een episch onderzoek, waarom de Fed dat toestond (en nu nooit meer zeggen dat een kenmerk van een post op internet de lengte is):
The letter (waarin Blair haar twijfels uit, SL) came as the Fed was launching a “stress test” to decide whether the biggest U.S. financial firms could pay out dividends and buy back their shares instead of putting aside that money as capital. It was one of the central bank’s most critical oversight decisions in the wake of the financial crisis.
“We strongly encourage” that the Fed “delay any dividends or compensation increases until they can show” that their earnings are strong and their assets sound, she wrote. Given the continued uncertainty in the markets, “we do not believe it is the right time to allow transactions that will weaken their capital and liquidity positions.”
Four months later, the Federal Reserve rejected Bair’s appeal.
In March 2011, the Federal Reserve green-lighted most of the top 19 financial institutions to deliver tens of billions of dollars to shareholders, including many of their own top executives. The 19 paid out $33 billion in the first nine months of 2011 in dividends and stock buy-backs.
That $33 billion is money that the banks don’t have to cushion themselves — and the broader financial system — should the euro crisis cause a new recession, tensions with Iran flare into war and disrupt the oil supply, or another crisis emerge. <<