Nobody is going to invest in the Italian banks unless they trust their balance sheets.
Negative interest rates hurt banks' balance sheets, with the 'wealth effect' on banks overwhelming the small increase in incentives to lend.
I passionately disagreed with Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson's plan to bail out the banks by using a public fund called the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to help banks take toxic assets off their balance sheets. I argued that it would be much better to put the money where the hole was and replenish the equity of the banks themselves.
With weak balance sheets, banks tend to continue lending unprofitable businesses and leave them existing.
If you think too-big-to-fail banks are not worthy of investment because of their impossible-to-read balance sheets, well then, don't buy them.
Deflation can be particularly dangerous when a financial system is shaky, with household and corporate balance sheets in poor shape and banks undercapitalized and heavily burdened with bad loans.
Investment banking has, in recent years, resembled a casino, and the massive scale of gambling losses has dragged down traditional activities as banks try to rebuild their balance sheets.
Crime is a fact of the human species, a fact of that species alone, but it is above all the secret aspect, impenetrable and hidden. Crime hides, and by far the most terrifying things are those which elude us.
It sounds extraordinary, but it's a fact that balance sheets can make fascinating reading.
It sounds extraordinary but it's a fact that balance sheets can make fascinating reading.
I believe Indian banks have a strong funding profile with largely deposit-funded balance sheets, a large physical presence to cater to the needs of customers, and ability to provide comprehensive solutions to customers.
The fact is that one of the earliest lessons I learned in business was that balance sheets and income statements are fiction, cash flow is reality.
Where I come from Nobody knows; And where I'm going Everything goes. The wind blows, The sea flows - And nobody knows.
Tough boys running the streets, come a little closer. Rough toys under the sheets, nobody knows her.
Investment banking has, in recent years, resembled a casino, and the massive scale of gambling losses has dragged down traditional business and retail lending activities as banks try to rebuild their balance sheets. This was one aspect of modern financial liberalisation that had dire consequences.
An indefinable something is to be done, in a way nobody knows how, at a time nobody knows when, that will accomplish nobody knows what.