Banks going belly-up?

Though I know zilcho about finance and have very little interest in it, having read a little about Northern Rock's, Barclay's and Citigroup's woes I know I need to make myself aware of the possible repercussions of current volatile conditions as I have about GBP250,000 sitting in a Wing Hang foreign currency deposit. If that bank were to fold or whatever, I guess I would lose most of it. Anyone with a crystal ball out there who can look into the near future and give me some idea of what kind of things we can expect will happen in the short term?

Hello Thames.


The credit crunch is not a simple situation and if you have that sort of money you should look to a financial advisor if you wish to spread your portfolio.


Nothern Rock in the UK is underwritten by the British goivernement (for now) as for CitBank this is all down to the US subb prime lending situation.


In short there is very little liquidity in the market for banks to lend to eachother due to the sub prime loans issue. Governements have made funds avalible to banks and the Fed in the US have cut interest rates.


As for the future - Expect to see cuts in interest rates and some resignations, but like teh Sars crisis, Black Wednesday and many other financial situations it is not the end of the world.