Additional Information
The PPP market is changing and no longer limited to governments and MTNs, and industrial companies and banks can issue their own debt instruments. Debt notes such as Medium Terms Notes (MTN), Bank Guarantees (BG), and Stand-By Letters of Credit (SBLC) are issued at discounted prices by major world banks in the amount of $-billions every day.
These private placements can be structured to meet the specific requirements of investors in terms of maturity and coupon. They can be targeted to retail as well as institutional investors, bear fixed or foreign exchange/interest rate-linked coupon, and can include caps, calls, and other features as required by investors.
PPP trading safety is based on the fact that the transactions are performed as arbitrage transactions. This means that the instruments will be bought and resold immediately with pre-defined prices. A number of buyers and sellers are contracted, including exit-buyers comprising mostly of large financial institutions, insurance companies, or extremely wealthy individuals.
The issued instruments are never sold directly to the exit-buyer, but to a chain of clients. For obvious reasons the involved banks cannot directly participate in these transactions, but are still profiting from it indirectly by loaning money with interest to the trader or client as a line of credit. This is their leverage. Furthermore, the banks profit from the commissions involved in each transaction.
The client’s principal does not have to be used for the transactions, as it is only reserved as a compensating balance (“mirrored”) against this credit line. This credit line is then used to back up the arbitrage transactions. Since the trading is done as arbitrage, the money (“credit line”) doesn’t have to be used, but it must still be available to back up each and every transactions.
Such programs never fail because they don’t begin before all actors have been contracted, and each actor knows exactly what role to play and how they will profit from the transactions. A trader who is able to secure this leverage is able to control a line of credit typically 10 to 20 times that of the principal. Even though the trader is in control of that money, the money still cannot be spent. The trader need only show that the money is under his control, and is not being used elsewhere at the time of the transaction.
Arbitrage transactions with discounted bank instruments are done in a similar way. The involved traders never actually spend the money, but they must be in control of it. The client’s principal is reserved directly for this, or indirectly in order for the trader to leverage a line of credit.
Confusion is common because most seem to believe that the money must be spent in order to complete the transaction. Even though this is the traditional way of trading – buy low and sell high – and also the common way to trade on the open market for securities and bank instruments, it is possible to set up arbitrage transactions if there is a chain of contracted buyers.
This is why client’s funds in Private Placement Programs are always safe without any trading risk.
A constant theme running through the global non-bank finance market as it has evolved since the 2008 crash, has been private placement and buy/sell programs. Sadly, the whole sector has become tainted as unscrupulous individuals, with no real knowledge of how it operates, have persuaded the unaware to part with significant sums of money on the expectation that they were going to reap outstanding returns. So prevalent did these scams become that the FBI and other agencies actually put out warnings that these programs are, in themselves, a scam. Blame the internet, it’s the cause of much grief in the market generally! It’s probably true to say that less than 1% of what’s on offer on the internet is real. But, nevertheless it is a genuine, private ‘Tier-1’ market place where financial instruments of many types (mostly MTN’s) are transacted by independent traders and trading groups, operating across the world’s to top tier banks.
Clients considering entering this market to make the right decisions look to us for guidance, to find explanations on some of the obscure or unclear aspects of its secure investment opportunities.
All trading programs in the Private Placement arena involve trade with discounted debt notes in some fashion. Further, in order to bypass the legal restrictions, this trading can only be done on a private level. This is the main difference between PPP trading and ‘conventional’ trading, which is highly regulated. This is a Private Placement level business transaction that is free from the usual restrictions present in the securities market. It is based on trusted, long established private relationships and protocols. Conventional trading activity is performed under the ‘open market’ (also known as the ‘spot market’) where discounted instruments are bought and sold with auction-type bids. To participate in such trading, the trader must be in full control of the funds, otherwise he has no means of buying the instruments before reselling them.
However, in addition to the widely recognized open market there is a closed, private market comprising a restricted number of ‘master commitment holders’. These are trusts, foundations and other entities with huge amounts of money that enter contractual agreements with banks to buy a limited number of fresh-cut instruments at a specific price during an allotted period of time. Their job is to resell these instruments, so they contract sub-commitment holders, who in turn contract exit-buyers. This form of pre-planned and contracted buy/sell is known as arbitrage, and can ONLY take place in a private market (the PPP market) with pre-defined prices. Consequently, the traders never need to be in control of the client’s funds. However, no program can start unless there is a sufficient quantity of money backing each transaction. It is at this point that, the client, is needed because the involved banks and commitment holders are not allowed to trade with their own money unless they have reserved enough funds, comprising money that belongs to clients, which is never at risk.
The ‘host’ trading bank is then able to loan money to the trader against your deposit. Typically, this money is loaned at a ratio of 10:1, but during certain conditions it can be as high as 20:1. In other words, if the trader can ‘reserve’ $100 million of client funds, then the bank can loan $1 Billion against it, with which the trader can trade. In all actuality, the bank is giving the trader a line of credit based on how much client funds he controls, since the banks can’t loan leverage money without collateral. Because bankers and financial experts are well aware of the ‘normal’ open market and of so -called ‘MTN programs’, but are closed out of this private market, they find it hard to believe that it exists. Bankers in top-tier, global banks (where this trading takes place) are ignorant that this trading exists within their own institutions because it happens at a level far removed from their own mainstream banking operations.
Private Placement trading safety is based on the fact that the transactions are performed as arbitrage. This means that the instruments will be bought and resold immediately with pre-defined prices. A number of buyers and sellers are contracted, including exit-buyers comprising mostly of large financial institutions, insurance companies, or extremely wealthy individuals. The arbitrage contracts, provision of leverage funds from the banks and all settlements follow long established and rapid processes. The issued instruments are never sold directly to the exit-buyer, but to a chain of market participants. The involved banks are not allowed to directly participate in these transactions, but are still profiting from them indirectly by loaning money with interest to the trader as a line of credit. This is their leverage. Furthermore, the banks profit from the commissions involved in each transaction. The client’s principal does not have to be used for the transactions, as it is only reserved as a compensating balance (‘mirrored’) against the credit line provided by the bank to the trader.
History of Private Placement Programs
In the 1990s, the trading in bank instruments was and is presently a multitrillion dollars industry worldwide. The World’s largest Holding Companies of North American and European Banks are authorized to issue blocks of debt instruments such as medium term notes, debenture instruments, and standby letters of credit at the behest of the United States Treasury for the United States Treasury Trust and Foundations and the United States Federal Reserve. The Instruments issued are backed by a Treasury undertaking. The genesis of this marketplace was the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference of world’s leaders. The principles originally championed as answers to post World War II economic stability are still the impetus for the operation of these transactions today. These transactions started some fifty years ago, have grown and been continuously modified, and as described in this article are Private Placement U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve investment transactions administered by select Western Banks. A brief history will help to understand the origin of these transactions and how it has remained strong and viable despite the great economic changes the world has experienced over the last half-century
With World War II having come to a close, the leading political and economic authorities of the world met in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire (USA). Their purpose was to formulate a common plan to rebuild the war’s massive devastation and to impose global restraints upon forces which had twice led to world chaos during the first half of the Twentieth Century and left economic collapse in its wake. To accomplish this goal, these leaders sought to empower universally recognized international institutions capable of effectuating and preserving political order and capable of encouraging and facilitating world economic trade and cooperation.
Leading economists around the world advocated the creation of an international banking system that would administer a universally accepted “currency”. It was believed that a centralized global authority, and a standard world currency, with fixed exchange rates between the different currencies of the world, was the formula for stimulating growth and maintaining world economic stability. The Bretton Woods Conference was held on July 1, 1944, with more than 700 participants representing 44 countries coming together and advocating for the establishment of an international banking system. The English economist John Maynard Keynes called for the adoption of a standard currency. However, the political realities of state autonomy have inevitably prevented the adoption of a uniform currency. As an alternative, international leaders have decided to adopt the US dollar as the standard global currency for international trade. It was backed by gold and the most stable currency. This adoption of the US dollar as the standard currency of international trade was the cornerstone that triggered the development of the banking instrument market. The Bretton Woods Conference also gave birth to the United Nations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The World Bank was structured to operate in a manner consistent with traditional commercial banks. It was created to serve as a lender to the poorest and least developed countries. World Bank funding came from the evaluation of the most industrialized countries. Today, it receives deposits from more than 140 member governments and lends to the least developed countries in need of international capital.
In its attempt to further solidify the universal acceptance of the U.S. Dollar as the standard world currency, the Bretton Woods Conference had fixed the price of Gold backing the U.S. Dollar at $35.00 an ounce. During the 1950s and the 1960s the price of gold in the open market had increased to a price nearly ten times that amount. The need to back the U.S. Dollar with gold valued at $35.00 an ounce while simultaneously providing sufficient U.S. Dollars to accommodate the increased needs of the international marketplace created significant stress on the United States Monetary system. The United States did not have enough gold to continue issuing the dollars necessary to continue to support international economic expansion. On August 15, 1971, facing a threatened speculative run on the U.S. gold reserves, President Richard Nixon renounced America’s promise to convert paper dollars into gold upon demand. With this executive proclamation the United States abandoned the gold standard. In the absence of the gold backed standard currency the idea of fixed exchange rates among all currencies of the world became passed, and by 1973 the IMF, the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) had abandoned the idea of fixed exchange rates. Within the territorial limits of the United States the U.S. Federal Reserve exerts influence upon the domestic economic trends by the regulation of domestic bank reserve requirements and the adjustment of the Federal Discount Rate. While these may be internally effective tools, they are inadequate to provide the international control demand in the global marketplace. The United States Treasury expanded the roll of the Federal Reserve System to monitor the International markets separate and apart from domestic duties.
The US Treasury needed to find a solution to continue creating US Dollars, so it created financial instruments, mainly Medium Tern Notes (MTN’s)*, which it sold to major global banks. The US Treasury through the validation of the Federal Reserve issues the largest financial instruments of the issuing banks of the World Bank in US dollars. These transactions are economically important because the banking instruments have such large dollar amounts that the effect of these sales will have a direct impact on the volume of the US dollar in circulation. Once the Federal Reserve cash out the sale of financial instruments in dollars, they can be reintegrated into targeted segments of the global economy in accordance with the US Treasury and policies determined by the G8 countries. The big world banks exchange their financial instruments. Private Placement Programs (PPP’s) are born …But reserved only for banks and governments… * Medium Term Notes are negotiable debt securities with an interest rate. They are issued by governments or companies in international debt markets to finance their medium and long-term capital needs.
This solution is very advantageous economically and financially for everyone, and it’s something magical … we always win upwards or downwards … if the economy of a country is growing, we win in positive speculation, if the economy of a country collapse, the debt is erased … but the US Dollars were created meanwhile … everyone wins … There is so much to gain from this system, that the banks have started to want to use this system to launder their own liquidity, and those of some of their clients obtained more or less in the legality (not respecting oil embargoes, money laundering. …). Remember the file of HSBC a few years ago. Banks will therefore organize, and create “subsidiaries” so-called “trading platforms”. They will offer their large clients to invest in programs through its platforms. The money returns gray and spring white with huge profits validated by the Federal Reserve (FED). But in this case, if there is any doubt about the origin of the funds, the Federal Reserve (FED) validate the transaction only if a part of the profits generated is donated to a humanitarian foundation, or a government project always humanitarian.
Compared to the yield from traditional investments, these programs can deliver a very high yield. 100% (or more) per week is possible. And this is how: Assume a leverage effect of 10:1, meaning the trader is able to back each buy-sell transaction with ten times the amount of money investor has deposited with the program. In other words, you have $10 million but the trader, because of his leveraged loan with the bank, is able to work with $100 million. Assume also the trader is able to complete three buy-sell transactions per week, with a 5% profit from each buy-sell transaction: ” (5% profit/transaction) x (3 transactions/week) = 15% profit/week Assume 10x leverage effect = 150% profit…PER WEEK”
Applicants are expected to be experienced investors who are familiar with how these investments are done. We DO NOT formally educate or provide any advice as to how one can incorporate this PPP strategy into his / her financial plan.
As a direct consequence of the PPP Trade’s environment where this business has to take place, a non-solicitation agreement has to be strictly followed by all parties involved. This agreement strongly influences the way the participants can interact with each other. Sometimes non-solicitation agreements foster scam attempts, due to the fact that at an early stage it is often difficult for the clients to recognize reliable sources to be in contact with.
There is another reason why so few experienced people talk about these transactions: virtually every contract involving the use of these high-yield instruments contains very explicit non-circumvention and non-disclosure clauses forbidding the contracting parties from discussing any aspect of the transaction for a specified number of years. Hence, it is very difficult to locate experienced contacts who are both knowledgeable and willing to talk openly about this type of instrument and the profitability of the transactions in which they figure. This is a highly private business, not advertised anywhere nor covered in the press, and is closed to anyone but the best-connected, most wealthy entities that can come forward with substantial cash funds.
The purpose of this type of trading is to finance projects, not generate tremendous profits for the client. These may be for-profit or non-profit and can be funded as a result of this trading.
Since this type of trading generates such large amounts of money on the market, measures must be taken to keep the inflation low. One way to do this is to adjust the interest rates, but this usually has little or no effect. A better way to minimize inflation is to let some of the profit be used for different projects that need funding, such as rebuilding infrastructure in regions of the world that have experienced catastrophes or war.
The complete process involving the issuing of debt-notes, the arbitrage transactions, the programs, and the projects is a result of combined market forces. Banks have a method of increasing their revenues and profits, clients are able to finance different ventures, and borrowers are able to access loan funds. There is a supply and demand for such instruments, and as long as the supply and demand exists then also this kind of trading will exist.
This business is entirely private. To get access to these investment programs, the client needs to send his preliminary documentation to a broker whom the client trusts to be in direct contact with the trading group. That means a Client Information Sheet, a copy of their passport, and a bank statement showing the balance of funds being committed for trade. It is generally required that the bank statement be signed by two authorized bank officers to make it full bank responsibility. There is no other way for the client to get contact with the trading group.
After the client has sent his own paperwork (their Passport, Client Information Sheet, and recent bank statement showing cash), the trading group will investigate the applicant. If the response is positive, the program manager in the trading group will contact or meet with the client. If the investigation is not favourable, the program manager will contact the broker and tell him that the client did not qualify.
During the contact with the client, the trader will explain the program terms/conditions to the client, and outline the guarantees and requirements to start the program. The client will get instructions to open a new sole signatory bank account at the trading bank for transferring the funds there.
The client will receive a contract which states the total gross yield, the percentage of the gross profit reserved for projects, the percentage for the trading group and the percentage for profit participation fees to be deducted for brokers/intermediaries. The net return to the client will be wired to another account that can be located in any bank worldwide. If the client accepts the contract, the contract is signed and the program is ready to start.
The trader is now able to leverage the client’s reserved money 10 times, and is now able to back up the arbitrage transactions with that money, a credit line that remains in the bank account that is screened before each arbitrage transaction. Trading now continues, and the profit is paid out per the contract terms to the client.
The programs work with cash only or gold bullion. This fact means that the client will only be accepted with liquid funds. Recent rulings by the G20 prohibit the use of an asset other than cash or gold bullion in a bank vault. A line of credit must be established and drawn down into an account at a bank, where it is lodged and blocked.
All trading programs in the Private Placement arena involve trade with such discounted debt notes in some fashion. Further, in order to bypass the legal restrictions, this trading can only be done on a private level. This is the main difference between this type of trading and “normal” trading, which is highly regulated. This is a Private Placement level business transaction that is free from the usual restrictions present in the securities market.
Usually, trading is performed under the “open market” (also known as the “spot market”) where discounted instruments are bought and sold with auction-type bids. To participate in such trading, the traders must be in full control of the funds, otherwise they lack the means buy the instruments and resell them. Also, there are fewer arbitrage transactions in this market, since all participants have knowledge of the instruments and their prices.
However, in addition to the open market there is a closed, private market wherein lies a restricted number of “master commitment holders”. These holders are Trusts with huge amounts of money that enter contractual agreements with banks to buy a limited number of fresh-cut instruments at a specific price during an allotted period of time. Their job is to resell these instruments, so they contract sub-commitment holders, who in turn contract exit-buyers.
These programs are all based on arbitrage transactions with pre-defined prices. As such, the traders never need to be in control of the client’s funds. However, no program can start unless there is a sufficient quantity of money backing each transaction. It is at this point the clients are needed, because the involved banks and commitment holders are not allowed to trade with their own money unless they have reserved enough funds on the market, comprising unused money that belongs to clients, never at risk.
The trading banks can loan money to the traders. Typically, this money is loaned at a ratio of 1:10, but during certain conditions this ratio can be as high as 20:1. In other words, if the trader can “reserve” $100M, then the bank can loan $1B. In all actuality, the bank is giving the trader a line of credit based on how much money the trader/commitment holder has, since the banks won’t loan that much money without collateral, no matter how much money the clients have.
Because bankers and financial experts are well aware of the open market, and equally aware of the so-called “MTN-programs”, but are closed out of the private market, they find it hard to believe that the private market exists.
Normally, a PPP trading program is nothing more than a pre-arranged buy/sell arbitrage transaction of discounted banking instruments. Theoretically, an client with a large amount of funds (on the level of $100-500M USD) could arrange his own program by implementing the buy/sell transaction for himself; however, in this case he needs to control the entire process, initiating contact with the banks and the exit buyers at the same time. This is not a simple task, considering the restrictions in place.
For a client it is much simpler (and usually more profitable) to enter a program where the trader and his trading group have everything in place (the issuing banks, the exit buyers, the contracts ready for the arbitrage transaction, the line of credit with the trading banks, all of the necessary guarantees/safety for the client, etc.). The client needs only to agree with the contract proposed by the trader, disregarding any other underlying issues.
It is further advantageous for the client to enter a program with a substantially lower amount of money and benefit from the line of credit offered by the trading group.