銀行倒産・・・
銀行員である大家が「イギリスの銀行が倒産して、取り付け騒ぎが起きてる」とのことでニュースサイトを見た。
ホントに倒産してる・・・。
British confidence is dashed upon Northern Rock
Monday September 17 2007
Exactly 15 years after Black Wednesday, when Britain's then Conservative government lost voters' trust on the economy, Prime Minister Gordon Brown must be hoping his Labour Party is not about to do the same.
Panicked savers have been queueing in droves around the country to withdraw their money from Northern Rock, Britain's fifth-biggest mortgage lender, after the cash-strapped bank had to get an emergency funding line from the Bank of England.
Regulators say Northern Rock is solvent, but has fallen foul of a credit crunch in global financial markets as banks, unsure which, if any, among them is over-exposed to defaulting US mortgages, have become reluctant to lend to each other.
But fears are growing of an old-fashioned bank run when tills reopen on Monday, after estimates that £1.5bn (€2.19bn), or 6pc of Northern Rock's deposits, had already been taken out over Friday and Saturday.
Policymakers are worried. Gordon Brown must be wondering whether this week's events will mark a watershed.
Back on Black Wednesday -- Sept 16, 1992 -- John Major's Conservative government spent billions of pounds and jacked-up interest rates five percentage points in the space of a few hours in a bid to keep the pound in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). Its failure and ejection from the ERM cost the govern-ment its reputation for economic management.
Even if Northern Rock survives, lending practices that have allowed house prices to triple in a decade are likely to change and pose a serious threat to the property market. Some mortgage lenders have in recent years been offering customers loans of up to 125pc of a property's value and of as much as six times their annual salary.
Plentiful credit has helped prop-up house prices further and also fuelled a huge buy-to-let market as many Britons have bet on it as the surest way to riches.
For now, economists are still predicting healthy growth, but a housing market downturn could interfere with their projections. Gordon Brown has promised more affordable housing. He may deliver sooner than he thought. (REUTERS)
アイルランドの家の値段も今年に入ってほんの少しダウンしたらしく、ケルティック・タイガーはそろそろやばいのかも。ユーロに対する円が150円台に戻ったようなことも言ってた。ひょっとしてわたし最も高い時期に留学してたのかも・・・。
