NY Times' Editors join in call for banks to provide current detailed disclosure

In their October 13, 2011 editorial, The Banks Falter, the NY Times' editors call for banks to provide current detailed disclosure on their loans and investments (this is the granular asset and liability-level disclosure this blog has been talking about).

Specifically, they said,

Investors, meanwhile, are pricing banks’ stocks below the banks’ book value — a sign that they don’t believe the banks are worth what the banks say they are. 

The questions generally involve whether banks are properly valuing their loans and investments and the extent of their exposure to shaky European debt. 

Banks could fix this with increased and detailed disclosure. 

Government officials and regulators could compel that disclosure. The general failure on this front feeds the air of skepticism. 

One of the lessons from the financial crash is that there is no substitute for transparency. In the new earnings season, investors are still in the dark.