91 Banks Miss May TARP Payment, 68 Banks Miss Multiple Payments; Top 10 Sovereign Debt Default Risks; New "Merle Hazard" Song - "Legal Tender"

Six hundred small banks still hold $130 billion in unpaid TARP payments with taxpayers on the hook. Records show Over 90 Banks Miss their May TARP Payment.

Statistics, compiled by SNL Financial from U.S. Treasury data, showed 91 banks and thrifts skipped the May dividend payment under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. It was the first missed payment for 23 of the banks; for the others, it was at least their second miss.

The number of banks missing their TARP payments rose for the third straight quarter. In February, 74 banks deferred their payments; 55 deferred last November. SNL Financial's analysis found 20 banks have missed four or more payments since the program began in 2008, while eight banks have missed five payments.

While many of the largest U.S. banks easily repaid billions in TARP aid, more than 600 smaller banks still hold $130 billion from the program, created at the height of the financial crisis.

Most of the banks failing to make TARP payments are bankruptcy candidates.

Top 10 Sovereign Debt Default Risks

Inquiring minds might also be interested in a slideshow of Government Debt Issuers Most Likely to Default.

Minus the slide images here are the results.

1. Argentina - CPD: 50.14% - Mid Spread: 1081.14
2. Venezuela - CPD: 49.76% - Mid Spread: 1013.78
3. Ukraine - CPD: 44.12% - Mid Spread: 884.91
4. Pakistan - CPD: 42.17% - Mid Spread: 803.20
5. Dubai, UAE - CPD: 32.46% - Mid Spread: 572.92
6. Republic of Latvia - CPD: 29.13% - Mid Spread: 513.31
7. Iraq - CPD: 28.25% - Mid Spread: 475.97
8. Iceland - CPD: 27.03% - Mid Spread: 476.34
9. Greece - CPD: 24.92% - Mid Spread: 341.54
10. Dominican Republic - CPD: 23.37% - Mid Spread: 375.00

From the article: "The countries are ranked by their cumulative probability of default (CPD), which gives the market's assessment of an issuer's likelihood of default over the life of a CDS contract."

Those numbers are from March as ranked by CMA. Greece is certainly higher now.

New "Merle Hazard" Song - "Legal Tender"



�Legal Tender� is an original lyric by Merle Hazard and Tom Carroll, set to a classic public domain melody. The melody is from an 1861 song, �Aura Lee,� that was popular during the American Civil War. Elvis used the same melody in �Love Me Tender,� which was a hit in 1956.

Mike "Mish" Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
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