The Basel 2 international bank-capital regime and the global accounting standards known as IFRS to say nothing of security analysts and rating agencies are forcing banks to hoard more capital, anticipating that deepening recession will slash asset values further.
Royal Bank of Scotland has been slashing its assets to improve profitability, and it said it had cut its noncore assets by £22 billion, to £72 billion, during the first half of the year.
The wife of a man who made more than $200m£128m8m) from slashing jobs and asset-stripping, she has raised five children and never had a career outside the home.
Owner Ken Smith realized his remote and extraordinarily cheap location in the mountains of northern Idaho could be an asset, slashing overhead cost per car.
Currently a vice president at the Brookings Institution, he was Turkey's economy minister from 2001 to 2002 and was widely credited with bringing Turkey out of a severe financial crisis by privatizing state assets and slashing budget deficits amid fierce political opposition.
Lewis has vowed to maintain the bank's net interest income while slashing $25 billion more in assets.
Switzerland's biggest bank, which had to be rescued by the state in 2008 after massive losses on toxic assets, slashed staff to around 64,000 from around 78,000 before the financial crisis, but it expanded again in the last year to over 65,000.
In an effort to bolster their capital reserves, the European banks are slashing their exposure to risky assets.
The concept of a bad bank has gained momentum in the financial industry as the economy deteriorates, slashing the value of risky assets on banks' books and increasing the need for banks to hold capital against those losses.
