segunda-feira, 4 de agosto de 2008

The big freeze: A year that shook faith in finance

Mais um artigo, publicado no FT, sobre o aniversário da crise econômica.

"Just over a year ago, Hiroshi Nakaso, a senior official at the Bank of Japan, started to fear that the global financial system was heading for a jolt. Back then, most American policymakers assumed that the western banking system was extraordinarily strong. Thus while US mortgage defaults were rising, western officials were convinced that such losses would be easily “contained".

But as Mr Nakaso watched western markets in July 2007, he had a sense of déjà vu. “I see striking similarities in what I see today with the early stages of our own financial crisis [in Japan] more than a decade ago,” he privately warned international contacts shortly after IKB, a German lender, imploded as a result of subprime losses. “Probably we will have to be prepared for more events to come ... the crisis management skills of central banks and financial authorities will be truly tested.”

His fears proved well-founded. On August 9 2007, the European Central Bank sent shock waves around world financial capitals when it injected €95bn ($150bn, £75bn) worth of funds into the money markets to prevent borrowing costs from spiralling sharply. The US Federal Reserve soon followed suit. But while the central banks had billed these moves as “pre-emptive” actions to quell incipient market tensions, they did not bring the panic to an end."

Gillian Tett

FT: 03.08.08

Para ler o resto do artigo: www.ft.com