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WASHINGTON, Mar 22 50 more U.S. banks could fail before authorities address structural problem, says former finance corporation vice president Lehman Brothers Lawrence McDonald.
«Another 50 banks may collapse until they solve the structural problem. Politicians will most likely be forced to somehow introduce a much larger withholding (outflow of deposits from bank accounts — ed. ), significantly exceeding deposits of $250,000,» he said.
The bankruptcy of the American investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008 is considered to be the starting point of the global financial crisis. McDonald added that the current problems in the US banking system are similar to the collapse of Lehman Brothers itself.
Estimating the outflow of funds from the accounts of US financial institutions, McDonald, who worked at Lehman Brothers during the financial crisis in 2008 and was responsible for debt management and convertible securities trading, predicts «hundreds of billions of dollars» that regional banks in the US will lose. At the same time, in his opinion, these funds will go to large banks, and then to treasury bonds.
The expert added that the US authorities will have to increase deposit guarantees compared to the existing ones.
On Tuesday, Bloomberg citing sources, reported that the US Department of the Treasury is studying the possibility of guaranteeing all bank deposits in the event of a deterioration in the situation in the banking sector, which may require funds from the foreign exchange stabilization fund.