Given your source course, I can understand you comprehension problem.
Every loan on a bank's "books" is a "contingent" asset. The "contingencies" are only limited by one's imagination. Used to be called "funny money."
Let me give you an example ....
The savings and loans in the 70's had plenty of loan "assets" on their books.
Do you know the rest of the story?
Put you Banking 101 text book back were it does the best. Paper weight.
Originally Posted by LexusLover
Dammit LL, you're gonna make me explain this shit to you, aintcha??? You seem to know a few accounting buzzwords without knowing what they mean. Under GAAP, contingent assets and contingent liabilities are NOT shown on the balance sheet but must be mentioned in a footnote to the financial statements. Still with me? This is because the likelihood of realizing the asset (or incurring the liability) may be highly uncertain and unquantifiable.
Example: If I sue you for $1 million, I can't record that amount as an asset. You don't owe me a dime unless I win in court, and even then the actual amount I am awarded or will ultimately collect may be a lot less. So this is a contingent asset to me and a contingent liability to you.
On the other hand, bank loans are real assets evidenced by contractual legal documents obligating a borrower to make payments. If I lend you $1 million, I can record this amount as an asset and you have to show it as a liability. It's not contingent – you owe it once you sign the loan agreement and receive the loan proceeds. If you go south on me later and stop making payments, I may have to write the loan down (or off) depending on your situation, but it's still not a contingent asset under GAAP rules.
So the S&L crisis in the late '80s (not the '70s) involved real assets, not contingent ones, and I know the whole story, including how Bill Seidman and the Resolution Trust Co. cleaned it up.
Now fuck the accounting lesson and tell me again exactly what “criminal” activity you think JP Morgan Chase is supposed to have engaged in?
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