Chapter 1139: The crisis at Barclays Bank
Where there's one, there's two; where there's two, there's three; the fear is that someone will set a bad example!
Mexico is one of the leaders in Latin America, and although Argentina's domestic economy is in the doldrums, it in no way conceals the essence of Argentina as one of the major powers in Latin America.
After these two countries chose to default, it is true that their domestic stock markets and currency systems collapsed, but the pressure they were carrying also disappeared instantly or was transferred for the most part.
The chickens flew and the dogs jumped, becoming Europe, the United States and other countries as well as major banks.
After watching Brazil, Colombia, Peru and other countries, the governments of these countries were also itching to do the same.
For a country, there is never a shortage of clever people, and in fact the governments of Latin American countries have long since analysed their respective national situations and interests very clearly.
Burdened with huge debts, the national economies have actually fallen into a vicious circle, and can only be gradually bled dry by the European and American countries.
Since the financial markets are bound to collapse sooner or later, it is better for them to collapse now, at least to gain a little initiative and to minimise the impact.
In short, Latin American countries and others can no longer stand the bullying and exploitation, and have chosen to throw the table.
Forget about debt, let's start again from scratch. If we unite, we might even be able to wipe out most of the debt...
We'll only be left with our underpants, so how bad can it get?
On 11 August, as the Latin American sovereign debt crisis intensified, Brazil, Latin America's most powerful country, decided to jump in and add fuel to the fire.
That morning, the Brazilian finance minister announced that Brazil was unable to service its sovereign debt of US$91.3 billion.
With Brazil's announcement of default, Europe and the United States knew that things had become completely irreversible!
After all, the defaulted debt of the three countries of Mexico, Argentina and Brazil had reached US$222.5 billion!
This accounted for 67.7% of the sovereign debt of the 19 countries in Latin America, more than two-thirds!
With the three countries taking the lead, the trend was irreversible, and the three countries withstood most of the pressure.
Under these circumstances, the other 16 indebted countries realised that their chance had finally come. One after the other, they announced that they would be unable to fulfil their obligations, regardless of the opposition from European and American countries.
On 12 August, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Panama, Nicaragua and Costa Rica were the first six countries to announce within two hours that they would be unable to fulfil their sovereign debt obligations on time.
On August 13, seven countries, including Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay, Belize, the Bahamas, and Guyana, announced one after the other that they would be unable to meet their sovereign debt obligations on time.
On August 14, the remaining three countries, Bolivia, Suriname, and Nicaragua, announced that they would be unable to meet their debt obligations on time.
Starting with Mexico's lead announcement of default on 6 August, just nine days later, all 19 sovereign debtors in Latin America had announced default, and the sovereign debt crisis had erupted in full!
The sovereign debt of up to US$328.7 billion was like an ammunition depot that was exploding, recklessly destroying the economic order in Latin America and constantly impacting the financial order of European and American countries.
After the omnipotent media had investigated, the list of these 328.7 billion US dollars in debt was published and placed on the front pages of newspapers around the world, and even the banks could not cover it up.
On this list, it is clearly written which bank lent how much money to which country.
The banks were also thoughtfully ranked, with Citibank at the top.
The UK's Barclays Bank, on the other hand, is the number one holder of debt in the UK, number one in Europe, and number three in the world!
This list is not a list of honour, and the major banks hate it.
It clearly shows the size of the crisis each bank faces, and puts it in front of depositors and investors.
When the British people saw that Barclays Bank held more than 13.68 billion US dollars in sovereign debt, panic broke out across the country.
Depositors flocked to Barclays Bank with one goal in mind: to withdraw all the money they had deposited with Barclays, even if it was only £1!
They would never pay for Barclays' bad investments!
Never!
As for the money they withdrew, the British people either took the cash home with them or, if the amount was relatively large, deposited it in other banks.
Which banks were they depositing their money in?
The major British newspapers had already told them clearly, and those banks had also issued statements.
Standard Chartered Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, The Chinese Bank, Bahrain Bank and other banks all do not hold even one dollar of Latin American sovereign debt.
Lloyds Bank, one of the Big Four banks, also only holds 48 million pounds of Brazilian sovereign debt, which is less than 100 million US dollars when converted to US dollars!
These banks can all be trusted!
As for the other three of the Big Four banks, Barclays Bank, National Westminster Bank and HSBC, you can no longer deposit money.
Because in addition to Barclays Bank holding more than 13.68 billion US dollars in sovereign debt, and more than 11.94 billion US dollars in Latin American corporate debt.
National Westminster Bank holds more than 8.17 billion US dollars in Latin American sovereign debt, and has lent 7.9 billion US dollars to companies in Latin America and other countries.
HSBC Holdings holds more than 6.94 billion US dollars in sovereign debt, and has lent more than 7.53 billion US dollars to companies in Latin America and other countries.
These three banks should be avoided at all costs.
...
On the afternoon of 14 August, after the stock market closed,
Evelyn Rothschild returned to the family home, dragging her tired body, and went straight to where Jakob Rothschild, Elro Rothschild and the others were gathering.
When they saw Evelyn Rothschild return, the group of people who were talking stopped immediately.
'Evelyn, what's the situation at the bank?'
Lister Rothschild, who had travelled from Vienna, Austria, asked for an update as soon as Evelyn Rothschild had sat down and taken a drink.
Facing the gaze of the others, Evelyn Rothschild sighed and said bitterly: 'The situation is very bad. The news about our bank's debts has already spread. Depositors and investors have completely lost confidence in our bank. Our stabilisation measures have completely failed. Now every branch is packed with people, all coming to withdraw their money.'
'How much has been withdrawn?'
Harry Losier from Switzerland asked immediately.
'I have compiled the data, it is more visual, let's take a look.'
As soon as he finished speaking, Evelyn Losier suddenly realised that it would be a waste of time for everyone to take turns to look at it with so many people here.
He decisively withdrew his hand holding the notebook and said, 'Forget it, I'd better read it all out, let's listen together.'
Everyone immediately focused their attention and looked at him intently.
Evelyn Lochir opened his notebook and read aloud: 'The bank now has total assets of 48 billion pounds, with total deposits from depositors of 42.12 billion pounds. Since August 6, 15.5 billion pounds of savings have been lost, and the company's market value has fallen from 6.5 billion pounds nine days ago to 5.52 billion pounds.'
'Currently, the Latin American sovereign debt we hold accounts for 14.84% of the bank's total assets.'
'If we add the $11.94 billion in debt to Latin American companies that have now been classified as major risk assets, our bank's risky assets have reached a high of 27.8%!'
'Our bank has now been classified by many institutions as the most risky bank in the UK...'
'As for the bank's liquidity...'
At this point, Evelyn Lochiel's face turned very ugly, as this was a figure he did not want to face.