Congressional Research Service Reports - 5 Matching Results
Search Results
- The Daiwa Bank Problems: Background and Policy Issues
- On November 2, 1995, U.S. banking authorities ordered the Daiwa Bank to close its banking operations in the United States, and a 24-count criminal indictment was issued against it. These actions stem from the bank's admission that Toshihide Iguchi, a rogue trader at its New York branch office, had incurred $1.1 billion in losses over eleven years from trading U.S. Treasury securities and that Daiwa managers had "directed that those losses be concealed" from U.S. regulators.
- The Federal Reserve's Arrangement for Emergency Loans to Japanese Banks
- The U.S. Federal Reserve reportedly has an arrangement with the Bank of Japan to provide emergency loans to Japanese banks operating overseas in exchange for U.S. Treasury securities. The collateralized loans would be extended on short notice for banks facing emergency liquidity needs. The purpose of the arrangement is to forestall the possible sale by Japanese banks of large amounts of U.S. Government securities (thereby raising U.S. interest rates) and to boost confidence in Japan's financial system. The loans would not risk U.S. taxpayers' funds. The Chairmen of both House and Senate Banking Committees have made statements about the arrangement, thus making it a matter oflegislative interest.
- The Exchange-Rate System: Return to Bretton Woods?
- This report focuses on the exchange-rate system set up at Bretton Woods, its breakdown in the 1970s, the current system of managed floating and, finally, proposals to return part or all the way to a more fixed-rate system.
- Foreign Direct Investment in the U.S.: Staging a Comeback?
- After four years of decline, foreign direct investment in the United States showed sharp gains in 1993 and 1994. Japan remained the largest foreign direct investor in the U.S. economy in 1993, despite a sharp slow down in investments by Japanese firms compared with British firms, the second largest direct investors. The overall foreign direct investment position in U.S. businessesand real estate - or the accumulated book value of all foreign investments - increased by $20 billion in 1993, nearly three times faster than the amount recorded in 1992. Preliminary data indicate that foreigners' investments could surpass $30 billion in 1994. Economists generally believe that foreign direct investment yields positive net benefits to both the recipient and the investing countries. For some American firms, foreign investments have been especially beneficial, because they supplied the firms with funds during times when many U.S. commercial banks were unwilling to finance them.
- Japanese Trade Balance and Exchange Rate: Seeing Through the Numbers
- Measured in dollars, Japan's global trade surplus stands at a record level. Also in recent months the Japanese yen has appreciated markedly against the dollar. The two events seem to foster a sizable degree of concern among many Americans, perhaps, taken to be evidence of Japan's economic success and the United States' economic failure. Things need not be as they seem, however.