European Banks are 'Insolvent' Amid Euro-zone Debt Crisis

December 16, 2011

European Banks are 'Insolvent' Amid Euro-zone Debt Crisis

Michael Platt, founder of the $30 billion hedge fund BlueCrest Capital, spoke to Bloomberg Television's Erik Schatzker and Stephanie Ruhle in his first-ever live TV interview.

Platt said that most of the banks in Europe are insolvent and the situation in the region is "completely unstable." On investing in illiquid assets, Platt said he "would not touch them with a barge pole" and that "the major opportunities will come post-blowout."

Platt on Europe's sovereign debt crisis:

"The level of concern of what we have about what is going on in Europe is absolutely huge. When you evidence all over the markets that they are pricing for the potential of the eurozone break up, it is contrary to what everything is set by policy makers and by central bankers.

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We distill it down essential fact that we continue to focus on at BlueCrest Capital Management - if you look at the debt of Italy at 120% of GDP, which is increasing at a real rate of 5%, and if you look at the GDP, which now is forecast next year to be declining, arithmetically their debt is going to blow up.

And we don't see anything happening at the policy level that gives us any indication that there's anything that's going to convert this situation from where it is now to a much more substantial and real crisis in the future."

On whether a blow up of Italy will force a breakup of the Eurozone: "We need much more radical measures to prevent this from happening.

If Italy and Spain are forced to roll their debt over, if they have to pay rates between 5 and 7% for this, then the situation in Europe is unsustainable. We're not going to have any euro bonds, we're not going to have a full political and fiscal union where the transfers will take place.

It seems what we're going to have is an attempt to control the European situation through continued austerity, which is pro-cyclical. As the economy slows down, we end up with more austerity which creates more slowdown.

We also have a requirement for banks to increase capital, therefore we're looking at a 3 trillion euro takedown in European balance sheets. There's basically nowhere I can see where we can get any growth from."

On whether cultural and political divides between nations in Europe have played a role in the crisis:

"Absolutely, it's about the cultural and political divide. The reality is that there is no willingness within the Eurozone to share wealth. In the United States, if California is having a really difficult time, the rest of the United States will send money to California. This is not the case in Europe.

There is no willingness to transfer money across boundaries in a long-term and sustainable way."

"The market prices the probability of a euro breakup to be distinctly non-zero, despite what the politicians say. I believe that the eventuality of a European breakup is so awful, that more and more drastic measures will take place as time goes by. The ECB is probably the only institution that can tackle this problem, but it doesn't have a mandate to do so...As time goes by, my view of what's required is a radical change of policy from the ECB to tackle this problem."

More on Europe's problems:

"The probability that the market is putting on a Eurozone breakup, in my opinion from evidence I'm seeing from option pricing across the different markets, is steadily rising...We're going into 2012, and in our opinion, it's only going to get worse."

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