Banks are declaring big profits

Singapore banks are declaring big profits which is also likely to be translated to big bonuses at the top. This reminds me of the days before the banking crisis in the West when all the American and European banks were declaring bigger and bigger profits and the top bankers were paying themselves hundreds of millions each. And they did that for several years with all the top bankers turning themselves in multi millionaires and billionaires.

Everyone, every layman and all living persons were in awe at the supermen running the banks. No one questioned the big profit numbers cooked up by the banks. They had no reason to. The western banking systems were transparent, very good, ran by honest and honourable men and women, audited by world class auditors and monitored by world class rating agencies. All received AAA ratings. How to question them or doubt them?

Then overnight every one of these banks that were announcing record profits the previous years turned belly up, all suffered huge losses that were hidden for years while they were cooking their record profit earnings and paying themselves crazy. The banks were insolvent.

Even then, they were trusted by the stupid Asians that thought these were well managed banks and when they came asking for money, billions were handed to them happily, without doing much thinking or due diligence, thinking all was well, only to be duped further as the rot was so deep and widespread that only their central banks could save them by printing more money.

Today we are hearing local banks reporting the same kind of exuberant profits, record profits, year after year. Would this send a chill down the spine? Would our banks be suffering from the same disease as the American and western banks, and then turn belly up when it is game over?

I don't think so. Our banking system is so well regulated, the best in the world. And our banks are just as transparent in their accounting, also audited by the same great auditing companies and rated by the same reliable western rating agencies. It cannot go wrong. The big difference is that we have a very good govt that would not allow the same disease affecting the American and western banks to repeat itself here. We knew how they duped their govts and people and this would not be allowed to happen here. We learned from their crooked ways.

The record performance and profits of our banks are genuine, not cooked. Trust them. We will not have a financial crisis that would result in our local banks being bailed out by the govt by printing more money. Our banks and banking system are in good hands. I am also in awe at how well our banks are managed and how easy they made their billions despite the hundreds of millions lost in the marine and shipping industry. I take my hat off to them. What they have achieved are like miracles.

Sleep well. And our top bankers can enjoy their big bonuses with a clear conscience, that they have done well, extremely well, and deserve every cent paid to them.

What do you think?