Chapter 1141 4.5 billion pounds

"I agree with Evelyn.'

'Having too many branches and too many depositors is the biggest constraint. We only have a little over 2 billion pounds in cash, and it is actually distributed between the head office and the branches.'

'I think there may be only 700-800 million pounds in cash here in London, and the other branches have an average of only a few million pounds,'

Harry Rothschild said, looking at Evelyn Rothschild, the president of Barclays Bank.

The latter nodded and said, 'Yes, at present, the head office and branches in the urban area of London have a combined cash balance of 730 million pounds. Other branches have as much as tens of millions of pounds in cash, and as little as hundreds of thousands of pounds.'

At this point, Lister Rothschild expressed his opinion: 'Everyone has a point, but I think as long as the publicity is in place, it will definitely have some effect. At this time, even if we can change the minds of some depositors, it is worth doing.'

'But we have to act quickly. According to Evelyn's words, it is estimated that more than 400 million pounds will be withdrawn today.'

'It's not just that we'd be slow to mobilise funds from branches across the UK, it would even be counterproductive if it became public knowledge.

'So I suggest that if we really want to do this, we must do it within two days, and the money must not come from the bank, but be provided separately by us for Barclays to borrow.

'As for whether it's 500 million pounds, one billion pounds or two billion pounds, we can discuss that later.'

...

Seeing the crowd arguing, Charles Locher remained silent. His position was the lowest in the room, and the company he controlled was also the weakest. Normally, he would not be qualified to participate in such a core family meeting. This time, he had a rare opportunity to do so, and he had wanted to provide a solution to show off, but he didn't expect the dispute to be so great.

In that case, he might as well just let it go. His position was the lowest, and it would be pointless to argue with everyone else. He could just let Jacob Rothschild make the final decision.

Sure enough, when Jacob Rothschild saw that no one had come to a conclusion and time was being wasted, he called a halt to the discussion. He said, 'Charles's suggestion has some feasibility. As for how effective it will be, it depends on our publicity efforts. As long as we can turn public opinion around, it will definitely have an effect. It will be a temporary relief if we can slow things down.'

'The key is still funding. Within this week, how much funding can you allocate to the maximum?'

Seeing that Jacob Rothschild had made a decision, the crowd also stopped.

They frowned and calculated how much money they could come up with.

Everyone knew the importance of unity, so no one planned to be sneaky or hide their strength. They must do their best to help the family through the crisis.

After a moment of silence, David Rothschild said, 'Jacob, now that the French Edmond Rothschild Bank has just been re-established for less than six months, its liquidity is indeed not long. If the bank had not been privatised, it could have come up with £1 billion, but now unfortunately, I can only support a maximum of £150 million.'

After David Rothschild had started, the others spoke up one after the other.

Elro Loish said, 'The situation in West Germany is much better. I can provide 800 million pounds in a week, but I'm not sure about the rest of the week.'

Sidney Loish said, "Italy can provide 500 million pounds in a week.'

Harry Loish said, "Switzerland can provide 600 million pounds in cash.'

...

While everyone was reporting their numbers, Leopold Loish was taking notes the whole time, and in the end, the total came to a huge number.

2.41 billion pounds!

This is the amount of money that can be raised with 100% certainty in one week!

It shows the strength of the Rothschild family in Europe!

Although not all of this money is necessarily owned by the Rothschild family, at a time like this, it is enough to be able to come up with money to ease the crisis. This is a sign of their ability, and there is no need to consider anything else.

As for the method of support for these funds, considering that Barclays Bank is a public company, not 100% owned by the Rothschild family, it must not be a capital injection, but a simpler deposit or loan relationship.

But these are minor details that do not affect the overall situation.

Evelyn Rothschild's face, which had been tense, eased slightly, revealing a smile.

'In addition to what will be withdrawn today, and the funds that everyone can support, then the bank will have a guaranteed minimum of 4.5 billion pounds this week.'

'And in the following week, the bank will also sell some liquid assets and make every effort to recover some loans, and at least be able to recover 1 billion pounds in funds.'

'To be sure, for the next half month, we are temporarily safe!'

Jacob Rothschild nodded slightly: 'It's good to be safe for the time being, and we also have more time to deal with it properly.'

'The key is to reach an agreement with other banks and formulate a complete debt repayment plan as soon as possible, so that Latin American countries are willing to accept it while also minimizing losses as much as possible.'

'Evelyn and I will take care of that.'

Everyone nodded, indicating that they had no objections.

Evelyn Rothschild thought for a moment and then spoke of another problem: 'When it comes to losses, we have to mention the market value of Barclays Bank.'

'In nine days, the market value of the bank has fallen from £6.5 billion before the crisis to £5.52 billion at the close of trading today, a drop of about £1 billion in market value.

'And it is entirely predictable that our bank's market value will continue to shrink after the full-blown Latin American sovereign debt crisis.'

'We are saddled with US$13.68 billion in sovereign debt and US$11.94 billion in risky loans, which adds up to a total of US$25.62 billion in risky loans.'

'As long as these risky loans are not recovered, our bank's stock price will continue to fall.'

'And as we sell assets and recover loans to pay for customer withdrawals, it will greatly reduce our profits. Some institutions already think we will be in the red this year, and have lowered our bank's rating.'

'So should we care about the bank's stock price?'

Jacob Rothschild thought for a moment and said, 'Barclays has not pledged any shares, so whether the stock price goes up or down, it will not do much harm to us. We just need a longer period of time to rebuild market confidence and brand value.'

'There are benefits to buying back and increasing holdings, but we are currently short of funds, and we are not sure how we will deal with the risk of those 20 billion US dollars in loans in the future. The cost and risk of buying back now are too high, so there is no need. Let investors sell if they want to.'

Evelyn Rothschild nodded with a somewhat difficult expression after a moment of silence: 'I understand.'

...

After another twenty minutes of discussion, the countermeasures and plans had basically been discussed, including the fact that Barclays Bank's London headquarters would put up 1.5 billion pounds in cash to show its strength...

Just as someone thought it was about to end,

Jacob Rothschild looked at Charles Rothschild and asked with a serious expression on his face, 'Charles, you are in Hong Kong and know the situation between the Jiuding Consortium and Xia Yu best. What has he done since returning to Hong Kong from the UK?'

Jiuding Group and Xia Yu are two very special terms. Everyone present has heard of them. Harry Rothschild, Lester Rothschild, and others also know that Jacob Rothschild and others once wanted to take control of Xia Yu and Jiuding Group, but in the end the plan was shelved.

As for the specific situation, they are not sure.

Now, on this occasion, Jacob Rothschild suddenly mentioned Xia Yu and the Jiuding Consortium. Could it be related to the content of today's gathering?

This speculation came to mind, and everyone's attention focused on Charles Rothschild, making the latter feel a huge pressure.