JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=JPM:US>had more Japanese holdings than any U.S. lender and Citigroup Inc. (C) <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=C:US> counted Japan’s government among its biggest debtors before last week’s earthquake struck, according to KBW Inc.
JPMorgan, the second-largest U.S. bank by assets, has “total cross-border outstandings” of $53.9 billion and $64 billion in commitments, according to David Konrad, an analyst for New York-based KBW, an investment bank that specializes in financial companies. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=GS:US>had $33.6 billion, Morgan Stanley held $19.1 billion and Bank of America Corp. (BAC) <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=BAC:US>had $17 billion, Konrad wrote in a note dated yesterday. Citigroup Inc. has $39.2 billion in Japanese loans, securities and trading assets and the government is the New York-based bank’s third-largest credit position, according to Konrad. Japanese policy makers are struggling to contain investor fears amid nuclear radiation leaks at power plants<http://topics.bloomberg.com/power-plants/>triggered by last week’s earthquake and tsunami. “We don’t expect a material credit event,” Konrad wrote in the report. “However, we believe that volatility in the markets may cause volatility in the trading results.” Citigroup, the third-largest U.S. bank, is the only U.S. lender with a “meaningful retail banking presence in Japan,” Konrad said. The company’s Asian regional consumer banking unit made a $2.17 billion profit in 2010. Pumping Cash The Bank of Japan (8301)<http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=8301:JP>has pledged to pump more cash into the financial system after injecting $183 billion yesterday. The Topix index of stocks suffered its worst two-day drop since the 1987 crash, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The KBW Bank Index, which tracks 23 of the biggest U.S. lenders, dropped 1.55 percent as of 10:50 a.m. in New York<http://topics.bloomberg.com/new-york/>, with New York-based JPMorgan down 2.3 percent, Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bank of America slipping 2 percent and Citigroup off 1.8 percent. Morgan Stanley fell 2 percent and Goldman Sachs declined 1.2 percent. Both are based in New York. KBW’s data on cross-border positions includes loans and derivatives and doesn’t account for hedges, the analyst wrote. The category includes holdings such as loans to banks, investment in local franchises and public-sector loans, according to Citigroup’s annual report to securities regulators. Bank of America’s holdings equal 0.75 percent of total assets, according to Jerry Dubrowski, a spokesman at Bank of America, the biggest U.S. lender. “So I would describe our exposure as small relative to our total assets,” he said. Jennifer Zuccarelli, a spokeswoman for New York-based JPMorgan, and Stephen Cohen at New York-based Goldman Sachs didn’t immediately comment. Shannon Bell <http://topics.bloomberg.com/shannon-bell/>, a Citigroup spokeswoman, and Morgan Stanley (MS) <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=MS:US>’s Mark Lake declined to comment. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-15/jpmorgan-citigroup-among-lenders-with-japanese-risk-kbw-says.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""GLOBAL SPECULATORS"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/globalspeculators?hl=en.
