When the forint began to lose value, banks did try to ameliorate the situation.
"Unless you're a Mondavi with huge enterprise brand value, banks are primarily lending on a formula," Mr. Kaufman said.
As those assets plunge in value, banks cut back on lending and hoard capital, increasing the likelihood of a recession.
But as the Teutonic euro soared in value, banks and companies would lose huge sums on their assets abroad and its exporters would find themselves at a disadvantage.
When they are given objectives other than just creating shareholder value, bank executives will find it hard to make decisions, he says.
If a house has not appreciated in value, banks will typically ask the owners to pay upfront for the cost of processing the refinanced loan, rather than folding that cost into the new loan.
I'll be the first to admit that I don't understand exactly how most investors value bank stocks, and why they spend so much time fixated on earnings per share and write-offs, etc.
"Each shift in psychology carried with it change in how investors believed they should value banks".
The $32billion (market value) bank has the most retail branches in Asia of any Canadian bank and powerful franchises in Mexico, the Caribbean and South America.
Called 'Near Me', I understand it will be formally unannounced in a company blog post as soon as tomorrow and is another clear sign of how fast the $1.7B valued banking startup is moving.
