My Photo
Blog powered by TypePad

Recent Comments

« Printing Wikipedia | Main | "Nobody Could Have Known" »

Karma and Bad Times for Deutsche Bank in America

Db From the Buddhist Encyclopedia: The law of Karma simply deals with the causes of all deeds actively created past and present; and the effects in all present and future experiences; thus making one responsible for one's own life, and the pain and joy brought to oneself and others.

Does the law of Karma apply also to banks?  If so, then Deutsche Bank is experiencing the effects of its world-class arrogance.

In the US, Deutsche Bank is receiving a great deal of publicity, but not the kind of publicity it was looking for.  Now the bank the largest plaintiff in residential real estate foreclosures in the country, as the mortgage crisis deepens beyond the subprime mortgage market.

No city has suffered more than Cleveland, Ohio. One in ten homes in the city is now vacant, and whole neighbourhoods have been blighted by foreclosed, vandalized and boarded-up homes. Who has ended up holding title to the foreclosed properties?  See the diagram below:

Deutsche_bank_2_416x376gif

One civic-minded blogger in Cleveland complained that he couldn't find an office for Deutsche Bank in the area:

The most active forecloser and biggest title-holder of foreclosed properties in Cleveland is Deutsche Bank, a German corporation which has no office I can find in Cleveland or even in Ohio, and which does virtually no lending here.

A group of activists in Boston were more successful in finding offices of Deutsche Bank.  The bank has been the most active in the city in foreclosing on homes:

In Boston some of those who have been tossed out of their homes are trying to force the bankers to see them as people and to stop the foreclosures. They gathered in front of Deutsche Bank to air out their grievances.

"Each day we get calls from tenants and owners who are facing evictions from their homes and neighborhoods. The only clear way to stop the crisis is for the Deutsche Bank to stop evicting our neighbors," said Steve Meacham of the group City Life/Vida Urbana said.

Ironically, the building is owned by a hedge-fund client of Deutsche Bank - the Blackstone Group. The  bank is trying to negotiate the sale of $20 billion in bad loans to Blackstone.

To add to Deutsche Bank's woes in America, a couple in California recently filed suit against the bank, claiming it concealed its Nazi past.  This is not what the Public Relations Department in the bank was hoping for:

Regina Lawrence, who is of Jewish descent, and Lamonte Lawrence, the founder of Lawrence Semiconductor, brought causes of action for “rescission and fraud in the concealment” against the bank in 2006, alleging that it deliberately failed to inform them that it had provided financial services to the Nazi regime during the time of the Holocaust in Germany.

Deutsche Bank's high-priced attorneys were able to successfully defend it this time, but it is clear that  the bank is facing unprecedented challenges.  So, tough times call for tough measures:  the bank will no longer  reimburse its  bankers for visits to strip clubs and prostitutes.

 

TrackBack

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/63021/28546300

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference Karma and Bad Times for Deutsche Bank in America:

» German Banks and the US Mortgage Crisis from Atlantic Review
Deutsche Bank got a lot of negative press coverage in the United States. David Vickrey, who used to work on corporate finance transactions at Deutsche Bank Securiites and Barclays Capital, has written extensively in his blog Dialog International about the [Read More]

Comments

This site may be useful to some of you guys and gals.
It has some practical information on how to avoid foreclosure.

http://www.howtoavoidforeclosure.org/

Good Luck

Post a comment

If you have a TypeKey or TypePad account, please Sign In

Search

  • Enter Keywords

Information

Who Linked