Leaking OutGuess who the Feds bailed out? Not our banks.

UPDATE - (Mar 1) Bloomberg reports that foreign banks accounted for at least 70 percent of the $110.7 billion borrowed during the week in October 2008 when use of the program surged to a record.

In addition, six European banks were among the top 11 companies that sold the most debt overall -- a combined $274.1 billion -- to the Commercial Paper Funding Facility.   Who didn't borrow is the biggest question.


Many US banks borrowed surprisingly little of the $110 billion loans given on October 29, 2008, the day that central bank's discount window lending peaked. Half of the loans went to two European banks. Brussels and Paris-based Dexia used their New York branch to borrow $31.5bn (£19.6bn). Depfa, a unit of the German lender Hypo Real Estate Holding, borrowed $24.6bn. Depfa was eventually seized by the German government.

Dexia was the world's largest lender to local American governments, school districts and transportation agencies. (See NY Times article that was based on this NPR report.) Dexia also owned a U.S. bond insurance subsidiary, Financial Security Assurance, which guaranteed riskier securities linked to subprime mortgages.

Also borrowing was Dublin-based Depfa Bank Plc., Germany's Commerzbank, Royal Bank of Scotland and France's France’s second-biggest bank Societe Generale.

Newest revelation
Libya-Owned Bank Got 73 Loans From Fed Window After Lehman Fell
Arab Banking Corp., the lender part-owned by the Central Bank of Libya, used a New York branch to get 73 loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve in the 18 months after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed.

MarketWatch has the figures.

One of the biggest surprises was multiple loans to a bank owned by the Central Bank of Libya. Arab Banking Corp., of Bahrain, got a $100 million, monthlong loan in September 2008 and borrowings in the hundreds of millions of dollars throughout 2009.

The bank also borrowed $1.2 billion in July 2009 and $1 billion in January 2010. In December, Libya's Central Bank increased its interest in ABC to more than 59% from its previous stake of about 30%.

Other foreign borrowers
From NASDAQ: "Austrian's Erste Group Bank AG (EBKDY) was the biggest single borrower the week Lehman Brothers failed. Japan's Norinchukin Bank also borrowed repeatedly. Even the U.S. finance arm of German car maker BMW AG (BMW.XE) tapped the Fed."

No wonder the Feds wouldn't release the information until ordered to do so by a court.