Hedge funds and traders betting against bank stocks are filling a critical role, according to Odeon Capital Group’s Dick Bove.
(Bloomberg) — Hedge funds and traders betting against bank stocks are filling a critical role, according to Odeon Capital Group’s Dick Bove.
“The funds and others who are shorting bank stocks are doing the American public a meaningful service,” analyst Bove said in a note. “They are winnowing the banking industry and forcing these companies to stabilize their financial statements.”
It’s a job that should have been performed by regulators and could be cut short if the government issues rules against shorting bank stocks, the Wall Street veteran who has covered the industry for decades said.
“Regulators may take the prevent shorting route to stop the carnage until they and the Congress can come up with a plan to resuscitate the system,” said Bove. Such a plan “must include a massive common stock offering for a package of banks that need the money.”
A representative for the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the agency wasn’t currently considering a short-selling ban.
If the agency were to change its tune, it wouldn’t be the first time a ban on short sales was tried to protect banks. In September 2008 — as bank stocks plunged amid the Global Financial Crisis — the SEC temporarily prohibited the tactic, initially affecting stocks of 799 financial companies. The agency cited the need “to protect the integrity and quality of the securities market and strengthen investor confidence.”
Lawyers at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz urged the Commission to impose a 15-day prohibition on short sales, similar to the one placed in 2008, to give time for regulators to work on restoring confidence and markets to digest information.
“Absent prompt action, strong banks, employees, communities and the American consumer may continue to bear the high costs of unnecessary and unjustified distress,” Edward Herlihy and Matthew Guest, partners at the law firm, wrote in a letter.
Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo said a temporary ban could “give some breathing room” to prevent a short-covering triggered rally in lenders.
To exit a short position, or cover it, traders must buy back borrowed shares of the stock they’re betting against. This buying can send prices higher and add to investor confusion — something that regulators want to avoid.
–With assistance from Felice Maranz and Katherine Doherty.
(Adds comment from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz starting in seventh paragraph.)
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