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Thursday 12 February 2009

The disappearing £16.3 trillion (update)

The more I think about this story the more worried I get. £16.3 trillion is a lot of money, could it in fact be enough to bankrupt the EU?

Meanwhile I see that FX Street are also reporting this story via "EU exec draft guidance on toxic asset treatment" and there it is near the bottom of the page:
" VALUATION PRINCIPLES

1. The determination of the fair value of financial instruments in the trading book and those at fair value under the fair value option (13.7 trillion euros or 33 percent of EU bank balance sheets) and instruments available for sale (4.5 trillion euros, or equivalent to 11 percent of EU bank balance sheets) is based on a three level hierarchy:

- mark to market in active markets,

- mark to model in inactive markets using observable inputs

- mark to model without observable inputs.

The last two must be agreed and could vary with the individual assets concerned, the Commission said.

For other asset categories not at fair value (23 trillion euros or 56 percent of EU bank balance sheets) impairment should be measured on the basis of future cash flows, it said. "

Is it too late to sell everything I own and buy gold?

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