Big Banks Sit on $250 Billion of Murkiest Trades After Covid
- Banks boosted Level 3 assets about 20% in first half: filings
- Some assets got harder to price, but banks pursued risk too
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The pile of the murkiest trades at global banks, long the bane of regulators, got much bigger during Covid-19.
Lenders including Barclays Plc, Citigroup Inc., BNP Paribas SA and Societe Generale SA reported a surge of more than 20% in their most opaque assets during the chaotic first half of 2020, Bloomberg calculations show. The banks are now sitting on hard-to-value trades that they say are worth about $250 billion, including categories that gained notoriety during the financial crisis, such as complex debt securities.