BANK TREASURERS AND THE KOBAYASHI MARU
The big news this afternoon is the Fed’s well-telegraphed rate hike, its 11th straight hike since it began raising the target Fed Funds rate in March 2022. But if bank treasurers were hoping for some sign from the Fed that there is a light at the end of the tunnel with these hikes, they are likely disappointed. The problem is that no one really knows where the Fed is headed, probably not even the Fed.
BANK TREASURERS STAY INDOORS
Well, the Fed finally paused, which judging by investor polls seemed to have been well-communicated. Bank treasurers informally polled by this newsletter could not have been surprised by the Fed’s statement that it was still weighing how much more to tighten rates in its fight against inflation, and not surprised by its “hawkish” pause.
BANK TREASURERS UNCHAINED
This month’s newsletter discusses key takeaways and implications from post-mortems by the Fed and the FDIC on the failure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank that they released at the end of last month. The bank regulators cast as much blame on their own institutional failures as they assigned to bank management.