'Sweden told its banks to write down their losses promptly before coming to the state for recapitalization.'<blockquote>'Sweden did not just bail out its financial institutions by having the government take over the bad debts. It extracted pounds of flesh from bank shareholders before writing checks. Banks had to write down losses and issue warrants to the government.
That strategy held banks responsible and turned the government into an owner. When distressed assets were sold, the profits flowed to taxpayers, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the companies as well.
..
After a series of bank failures and ad hoc solutions, the moment of truth arrived in September 1992, when the government of Prime Minister Carl Bildt decided it was time to clear the decks.
Standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the opposition center-left, Mr. Bildt’s conservative government announced that the Swedish state would guarantee all bank deposits and creditors of the nation’s 114 banks. Sweden formed a new agency to supervise institutions that needed recapitalization, and another that sold off the assets, mainly real estate, that the banks held as collateral.
Sweden told its banks to write down their losses promptly before coming to the state for recapitalization. Facing its own problem later in the decade, Japan made the mistake of dragging this process out, delaying a solution for years.'
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Stopping a Financial Crisis, the Swedish Way, 2008</blockquote>
Context Global Issues - Global financial architecture - Banking Reform<blockquote>
'..a financial system of the bankers, by the bankers, and for the bankers—consumers and shareholders be damned.' - Hamel, 2012
Spain Potpourri: Official Denials From Finance Minister; More Nationalizations Coming Up; Banks Use ECB Money to Refinance Large Enterprises in Dire Shape, New Credit To Households Down 80%, May 15, 2012
Real Estate Crash in China Underway: Foreign Funding Down 80%, Land Sales Down 57%, Starts Down 27%; Expect Chinese GDP to Plunge, May 16, 2012
Crowd funding (
Cash-strapped entrepreneurs get creative in BBC News, 2010)</blockquote>