The Son of Finance of the Great Age

  Chapter 533 Bank run crisis (3)

  After interviews with anonymous peers and financial analysts, the big story is finally about to be played. As the ace host, Jimmy naturally knew how important the voice of the person concerned was at this time. The director's room had already connected the phone with the PR department of Northern Rock Bank, and was waiting for him to get the signal through.

Jimmy Savile has always been known for his bitter comments and merciless sarcasm. As the ace of the BBC, he always laughed and scolded, and he didn't care about the feelings of the interviewees. The interviewees, including some politicians, all criticized him Quite a headache. So when the PR department of Northern Rock Bank received a phone call from Jimmy's team, most of them felt numb and at a loss, because it would be impossible not to speak out at this time. But what to say, how to dispel the doubts of the market, this is not something they can decide.

  In an emergency, they urgently asked the board of directors for instructions. In the end, Byrne Sander was in charge of the telephone interview. After all, he knew the inside story and was quite skilled in dealing with the media, so this arduous task fell to him.

  At this time, Byrne Sander was sitting in the office of the PR department, watching Jimmy Savile on the wall talking eloquently, feeling extremely agitated. He is not very worried about interviewing him, he has already made up his mind. What Byrne is worried about is that if he can't dispel the market's doubts about Northern Rock Bank, I'm afraid he will really change his owner.

Although job-hopping is frequent in modern society, Byrne is not such a person. He started as a management trainee and has been immersed in the banking industry for decades. It was Northern Rock Bank that gave him a platform to flex his muscles. , Let him shine, so he has a deep affection for this place. Although in terms of his current position in the market, finding a new home is only a matter of one sentence, but emotionally he still can't accept it.

   Now is the time to actively help yourself.

   "Mr. Byrne, are you online?"

Just in a daze, there was a loud inquiry from the phone on the table, and an echo appeared on the TV on the wall. Byrne was shocked, and immediately realized that it was radio interference. He turned off the TV and took a deep breath. Finally, he replied in a deep voice: "I'm sorry, Jimmy. Yes, I'm online. Are you okay? My friend."

"When did I become your friend?" Jimmy did not intend to let him go because of Byrne's overtures. He firmly denied that the two had a personal relationship. On, "Are you okay? I should be asking you this sentence. Oh, no, I am not asking you, but I am asking the Northern Rock Bank you work for. Mr. Byrne, can you answer me, now Northern Rock Bank okay?"

Byrne's heart trembled, and he thought to himself that the other party's sharp words really deserved his reputation. He cheered up and replied with a smile: "Jimmy, I think you should know what happened. But I can tell you responsibly, Northern Rock Bank All is well and we have sufficient liquidity to handle withdrawals from our clients, so thank you for your kindness."

   "Sufficient liquidity?" Obviously, such a statement is not enough to convince Jimmy, nor is it enough to convince people who have doubts about Northern Rock Bank. As the ace host, Jimmy reacted very quickly, and then followed Byrne's words and asked, "I don't know where these liquidity comes from? Is it the relief from the Bank of England, or the proceeds from the sale of your assets? Oh, sorry, Maybe you don’t know, just now, a gentleman broke the news to us that your bank is selling assets around the world, maybe not selling, but who cares now?”

"Rumor, it's definitely a rumor!" Byrne categorically rejected it without even thinking about it, even though he knew what the other party was saying was true, "Jimmy, although the Bank of England issued an open letter, it is against our core capital and statutory requirements. As far as the lack of margin, for ordinary depositors, we have enough capacity and funds to guarantee their withdrawals. By the way, I must tell you that you may not understand the dangers of the financial market. In this You can definitely make a fortune in the stock market by spreading rumors about us, if you know what shorting is."

  His words are naturally an insinuation that Jimmy does not understand the rules of the financial market, and treats the "winds" released by others as facts. This is also a counterattack against Jimmy's aggressive questioning all the time.

"Okay, Mr. Byrne, let's just believe what you said is the truth!" Jimmy's expression was slightly astonished, but he had never seen any scene before. He spread his hands and shrugged his shoulders to express his helplessness, and then continued to ask seriously. , "Mr. Byrne, assuming that what you said is true, but I have no way to convince those who are waiting in line to cash out, and you can't guarantee that their property will be preserved in the event of an accident. In this way Well, instead of discussing these unprovable things, why don't you explain to us why Northern Rock Bank has a problem of insufficient liquidity. You know, there is no sign of it before then. Also, how do you plan to deal with this problem ?”

"this problem…"

Finally came to the core of the problem. Although Byrne could frankly explain the reasons for all these problems, he hesitated because at this time he was not sure whether it would be a good or a bad thing to say that Northern Rock Bank was deeply involved in housing loans. , because the entire market is worried about home mortgages. But he is very clear that this is during the live broadcast, if he hesitates, he does not know how many rumors will appear later, so he can only perfunctory, "Jimmy, you have made a common-sense mistake again. If I can disclose the reason here, I believe that the moment I hang up the phone, the call to fire me will ring. Although I can't disclose the reason in detail, what I can tell you is that our Northern Rock Bank A group of high-level executives are dealing with this matter, and there has been a turning point, and I believe this part of the matter will be completely dealt with within a few days, and the liquidity problem that plagued us will be solved by then."

  …

While Byrne and Jimmy were arguing on the phone, Matt Ridley was also looking for a relationship, hoping that a certain big shot would come forward as a guarantee, but the run was just beginning, even the guy from Downing Street I will not express my opinion easily now. But the middleman said that as long as they can show enough ability, there will be heavyweights who will stand up and speak for them.

  Matt Ridley is very clear that showing sufficient ability means that he can withstand the run on from ordinary depositors within a few days, otherwise nothing will be discussed. These damned politicians don't know the situation of their own banks, so they will never express their views at this time, and only after they first meet the withdrawal needs of some depositors, these politicians will stand up to win people's hearts. This is a political method.

From their point of view, these methods are understandable, but for Northern Rock Bank, this period is the most difficult time, and if they can't continue, these politicians will immediately turn their faces and ruthless like flipping a book, and will Northern Rock Bank is pushed to the brink of bankruptcy.

   Just when he was burning with anxiety, a call from the trading department saved him.

"What, 500 million pounds? It was borrowed as a mortgage, not sold? Are you sure?" After hearing the news from the microphone, Matt Ridley showed ecstasy at first, but this joy soon disappeared. Flying with wings, because the other party's conditions puzzled him, "500 million pounds to borrow 12 billion US dollars of Greek national debt for a period of two years."

  Although, as the chairman of the board of directors of a large consortium, he is naturally far superior to others in terms of experience and experience, but even so, the price still shocked Matt Ridley. You must know that although these national debts are difficult to borrow, the price of 300 million pounds is too high, far exceeding the expectations of any professional. 500 million pounds is converted into more than 600 million U.S. dollars, and the cost has reached about 3% in two years, which is definitely higher than the interest rate of U.S. dollars in the market.

At this time, Matt Ridley didn't have much time to speculate how the other party knew that he had such a huge amount of Greek national debt. All he needed at this time was cash, so he only thought for a moment before decisively I made up my mind that this deal must be signed.

Soon, the entire bond trading department started to act. Together with the legal department, they drew up the relevant contract text and faxed it to the consortium in Hong Kong. Half an hour later, the revised version of the contract was sent back. Appropriate changes have been made in the text.

  This Hong Kong-based consortium is registered in the British Virgin Islands. It is obviously an offshore financial company, and the specific business and owner are unclear. Matt Ridley naturally didn't have time to pay attention to what the other party was doing, and he didn't have time to inquire about the other party's background. What he needed now was a life-saving straw, and obviously, this was a life-saving straw.

In the suffocating environment, the team of Northern Rock Bank worked on the details of the contract text at super fast speed. What they need now is time. After another afternoon of telephone negotiations, they finally had a phone call with the consortium from Hong Kong. Among them, an agreement was reached to mortgage the other party's Greek government bonds with a total market value of 13 billion US dollars at a price of 550 million pounds for a period of two years. The exchange rate of the pound to the dollar is based on the price at the close of the London foreign exchange market today.

  In the middle of the night, the two parties finally signed the contract agreement, and after waiting for more than half an hour, there was an extra remittance of 550 million pounds in the account of Northern Rock Bank. And then, after being reported to the regulatory authorities, these Greek government bonds were also transferred to the account designated by the other party. At this point, the deal is officially concluded.

  The senior executives of Northern Rock Bank, who are holding an emergency board meeting, were all elated after hearing the news. Because shortly after closing the business, they began to nervously count the cash flow that was withdrawn that day, and they were surprised to find that in just one day, Northern Rock Bank lost a full 700 million pounds of cash, which accounted for all 2.8% of depositors' deposits, this figure is extremely shocking. But now, the cash replenishment of 550 million pounds has reduced their cash loss to a minimum during this day, which naturally allows them to breathe a sigh of relief.

   Except for this transaction that was made without knowing how, Northern Rock Bank has almost nothing in other respects. On this day, their stock market value plummeted by 40%, and investors suffered heavy losses. This news intensified investors' panic about Northern Rock Bank, so the crisis of Northern Rock Bank has not been resolved so far.

   On the 15th, ahead of its opening, Northern Rock Bank announced to the market that it had raised hundreds of millions of pounds in cash flow funds, but it still did not dispel the doubts of the market. However, because of the supplement of cash flow, the top management of Northern Rock Bank no longer panicked like the first day. On the one hand, they mortgaged high-quality assets in the market, and on the other hand, they worked hard to lobby British politicians. Finally, on the 17th, They persuaded a heavyweight to come out and stand for them.

   Thank you book friends for waiting for the monthly ticket from the parked venture capital! Thanks to the book friend, my uncle, for another reward!

  (end of this chapter)