| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Safety of Post Office/Bank of Ireland savings | |
| Posted by: | John Connelly | |
| Date/Time: | 18/11/10 12:29:00 |
| Supporting Ireland is not neighbourly but driven by self-interest. As Thomas points out, British commercial banks have around £140 billion in outstanding loans in Ireland. From today's Telegraph: "RBS, the largely-nationalised bank, is thought to have the biggest exposure (to Ireland) with more than £50 billion of outstanding loans. Amid the growing fears that an Irish collapse could have a serious knock-on effect in this country, Mr Osborne said that the Treasury was considering all options for financial aid." The seeds were sown when governments decided to give commercial banks a free reign on lending, leading to a world-wide unsustainable expansion of credit. This crisis is just the latest to surface and there are more to come. Whether the double dip is averted or not is something we can only speculate on as we are into uncharted financial territory internationally. What can be said is that the rallying of the Footsie 100 today following yesterday's steep fall demonstrates that the markets believe the Irish financial system needs to be bailed out. |