by Pam Martens and Russ Martens at Wall Street on Parade
As indicated on the above graph, as of December 31, 2023, Goldman Sachs Bank USA, JPMorgan Chase Bank N.A., Citigroup’s Citibank and Bank of America held a staggering total of $168.26 trillion in derivatives out of a total of $192.46 trillion at all federally-insured U.S. banks, savings associations and trust companies. That’s just four banks holding 87 percent of all derivatives at all 4,587 federally-insured financial institutions in the U.S. that existed as of December 31, 2023.
You might be asking yourself the very valid question as to why the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010, that followed the Wall Street financial quake of 2008, didn’t correct the derivatives gambling that played a central role in crashing the U.S. financial system. For why the threat of derivatives never actually went away, see our report: Meet the Two Congressmen Who Facilitated Today’s Derivatives Nightmare at Wall Street’s Mega Banks.
As one example of the insane level of leverage concentrated in a handful of megabanks, look at the entry in the above chart for Goldman Sachs Bank USA. That federally-insured bank, part of the international trading conglomerate known as Goldman Sachs Group, is allowed by its federal regulators to have $521 billion in assets but $54 trillion in derivatives.
But don’t worry. Under U.S. accounting rules, these derivatives can be whittled down under the magic known as “netting,” and conveniently moved out-of-sight/out-of-mind off the balance sheet.
When the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission released…
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