One can safely BANK on egregious exploitation by unethical, crooked bankers

"Many a man may look respectable, and yet be able to hide at will behind a spiral staircase." --He was so crooked he could hide at will behind a spiral staircase...P.G. Wodehouse

How BofA, Deutsche Bank and Citi Masked Risk - Deal Journal - WSJ: "Last month the WSJ reported that banks are routinely reducing their short-term borrowings at the ends of quarters so it appears that they are carrying less risk to investors and customers.

Today, the Journal named some the most active “window dressers.” They are BofA, Deutsche Bank and Citi. Over the past 10 quarters, the three banks have lowered their net borrowings in the repo market by an average of 41% at the ends of the quarters, compared with their average net repo borrowings for the entire quarter, according the WSJ reports based on an analysis of Fed data."

Big Banks Move to Mask Risk Levels - WSJ.com: "Major banks have masked their risk levels in the past five quarters by temporarily lowering their debt just before reporting it to the public, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

A group of 18 banks—which includes Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc.—understated the debt levels used to fund securities trades by lowering them an average of 42% at the end of each of the past five quarterly periods, the data show. The banks, which publicly release debt data each quarter, then boosted the debt levels in the middle of successive quarters."