Last Call

The banking crisis is far from over.

Regulators met top executives from the 19 banks behind closed doors at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on Friday, and at some of the 12 other regional Fed Bank offices, to review the preliminary results of the tests and inform bankers how much additional capital they must raise.

The information will not be publicly released until May 4, although the banks have the next several days to dispute any of the findings of the tests.

On Friday, Morgan Stanley came forward with its own analysis of which banks might need to raise capital, the latest in a series of private estimates being tallied to allow gambling investors to position themselves to profit from fluctuations in the stock prices of the banks.

The report identified SunTrust, KeyCorp and Regions Financial — all major regional banks — as those that the government would probably determine needed billions in additional capital. Bank of America and Wells Fargo fall into a “gray zone,” the report said. Earlier this week, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, a boutique investment bank, said all of the 19 banks might need a total of $1 trillion of fresh capital.

And of course, they will get it from Helicopter Ben's magic printing press, and everything will be just fine!

But I have to ask, since we've determined that the Big 19 will not be allowed to fail, then what happens to the twentieth largest bank on the list, I wonder? And #21? And #22? If the big banks need another trillion to survive, what about the medium banks? What happens to them?

The Big 19 banks account for half the loans in this country. What about the banks that hold the other half? What will Obama do for them?

You have a loan out with a bank not on this list? I'd be worried if I were you.

Very worried.