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by yunwal 1198 days ago
> The only risk for other banks is opportunity cost

To be clear, if banks can improve their risk profile for free, they will do that (because it frees them to invest in other risky stuff). A no-risk 5% return while the fed is giving out sub-5% interest rates is a no-brainer. The reason no banks are coming in to help is because it would be a bad investment.

1 comments

They are 5-10% total return, not annual. My point is that it is not a bad investment, it’s just a less-good investment than equivalent bonds with the exact same (extremely low!) risk profile at today’s rates. They were a perfectly fine investment in 2021-22, they just aren’t as attractive in 2023. Could very well be good again in 2024 though, who knows.