Chapter 587 Bear Stearns Crisis

Speaking of which, Barron was very grateful to Bonnie for remembering to remind him to return to Chatsworth Manor this time.

On the night they returned to the manor, Barron and Bonnie went to visit Butler Sean who was recovering from illness.

"Actually, I don't have any big problems. I'm just old. I'll be fine in a few days."

Butler Sean looked at Barron and Bonnie with a look of relief, just like when he first welcomed them back at the gate of the manor.

That night, Butler Sean deliberately drank a glass of whiskey and went to bed peacefully.

When Ramos came to his room to deliver breakfast in the morning, he found that Butler Sean had died in his sleep.

When Barron heard the news, he could hardly believe his ears, and Bonnie was immediately shocked.

After all, although he looked unwell yesterday, Butler Sean didn't look like he was about to die...

Anyway, it has happened, and it is slightly comforting that Butler Sean passed away very peacefully, and Barron was able to meet him in his last time.

Butler Sean has devoted most of his life to the Devonshire family. According to his previous wishes, he will be buried in the Devonshire family cemetery.

To some extent, Butler Sean can be said to be one of the ties between Barron and the Devonshire family. After he came into this world, the person in the Devonshire family who could be said to be most familiar to him was Butler Sean, so he couldn't help feeling lost at this time.

…

On March 4, Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank on Wall Street with a history of 85 years, announced a serious cash shortage. On the same day, the Federal Reserve decided to let the Federal Reserve Bank of New York provide emergency funds to Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in the United States, through JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Bear Stearns was founded in 1923 and is headquartered in New York.

It is the fifth largest investment bank on Wall Street and a leading global financial services company that has provided high-quality services to governments, enterprises, institutions and individuals around the world.

The company's main businesses cover institutional stocks and bonds, fixed income, investment banking, global clearing services, asset management and personal banking services.

In addition to the United States, Bear Stearns has branches in London, Tokyo, Berlin, Milan, Lijiapo, Yanjing and other places, with more than 10,000 employees worldwide.

In the 85 years of existence, it has created a record of 83 consecutive years of profitability.

But even such a once glorious one of the five major investment banks on Wall Street was defeated by the subprime mortgage crisis at this moment...

In this rescue, Bear Stearns will get a 28-day loan.

The Federal Reserve lent this money to Bear Stearns through JPMorgan Chase, but the loan risk was borne by the Federal Reserve-this is the first time since the Great Depression in the 1930s that the Federal Reserve has lent in this way.

The reason why the loan had to be given to Bear Stearns through JPMorgan Chase is that Bear Stearns does not have its commercial banking business like other investment banks, such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch.

Bear Stearns is actually a large brokerage company that cannot get funds through the Federal Reserve's discount window and must go through a commercial bank as an intermediary.

JPMorgan Chase was chosen because it was one of the few banks that suffered less losses in this subprime mortgage crisis. In addition, JPMorgan Chase has a history of taking on major responsibilities in times of crisis in the history of Wall Street.

After the news came out, Bear Stearns' stock price fell 47% that day, closing at $30, reaching its lowest level in nine years, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 195 points.

In fact, as early as last week, on February 25, European banks had stopped trading with Bear Stearns - the news had panicked the market at the time, and investors sold financial stocks one after another.

On the last day of February, on February 29, the U.S. stock market began to circulate news that Bear Stearns might have a liquidity crisis.

Some American fixed income and stock traders began to withdraw cash from Bear Stearns, fearing that their settlement funds would be frozen if Bear Stearns filed for bankruptcy.

At the same time, several American media published rumors that Bear Stearns might be in a liquidity crisis.

It was this sentence that made Bear Stearns' clients and counterparties doubt its ability to perform.

What could be more destructive than such doubts in this sensitive period of crisis?

So of course, there was a run on Bear Stearns, and cash flowed out like a stream, and there was no way to stop it.

By March 4, the large-scale exit of hedge funds finally drained the last drop of blood from Bear Stearns, and $17 billion was withdrawn - it was because of this withdrawal of $17 billion that the rumors became a reality: Bear Stearns really had a liquidity crisis.

At the same time, its New York-listed stocks staged a high dive. At this time last year, Bear Stearns' market value was as high as $20 billion!

Panic spread at an alarming rate. As a large amount of funds continued to flow out, Bear Stearns became helpless - Wall Street stopped trading with him, foreign exchange credit lines from counterparties evaporated, and banks withdrew one after another.

By the end of this week, Bear Stearns was like a dying giant but with all its organs intact. If it had enough blood supply and unobstructed blood vessels, it could still survive and live well.

But in the financial world, there are no "ifs."

It can be said that Bear Stearns was bled to death by its customers - Bear Stearns was responsible for operating and clearing customer funds as high as $288.5 billion on November 30, 2007.

But now Bear Stearns is on the verge of bankruptcy and can only breathe with emergency financing from JPMorgan Chase and the Federal Reserve.

This is the efficiency of modern financial markets: the weakest link on the hinge is removed in an instant, resources are redistributed, and the entire system continues to move forward.

Ironically, in many reports on this crisis of Bear Stearns, there are criticisms of its management's inaction.

When Bear Stearns was in a repayment crisis, Chairman Kane chose to go to Detroit to participate in a bridge league the previous weekend - during which time he had very little contact with Bear Stearns executives or other board members.

When he returned to New York to personally inquire about the business, other Wall Street peers had stopped assisting, and the Federal Reserve was forced to provide emergency financing to Bear Stearns through JPMorgan Chase.

Another famous incident was his walkout in the middle of a conference call on August 3 last year to restore investor confidence. This leader allowed his company to go to hell.

In fact, in the year since the subprime crisis, Bear Stearns executives have been halfheartedly trying to allay investor and other bank concerns about its business.

Before handing over the CEO post to Alan Schwartz in January, Cain had not bothered to communicate with the outside world.

They made no effort to reassure the outside world and keep everyone informed.

Until recently, in the face of growing external doubts, Bear Stearns responded with a tepid, detail-free statement declaring that it had no capital or liquidity problems.

In contrast, Lehman Brothers...

In media reports, Lehman Brothers was praised for a series of difficult and planned operations to restore confidence to the wavering after the subprime crisis broke out.

And they were considered to have taken more decisive actions to stabilize their books - its cash buffer was twice that of Bear Stearns.

Lehman's chief financial officer, Erin Callan, poured out a series of data to prove the company's strength during a conference call last Tuesday.

Well, at least for now, Lehman Brothers is still a "top student in the class"...