Global financial distress

[KeithMEL]

And across the Atlantic...

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...95-643,00.html

THE global financial earthquake spread overnight to Britain where a stricken HBOS was rumoured to be about to receive a pound stg. 15.8 billion ($35.6 billion) takeover bid from Lloyds TSB amid wild gyrations in the share price of Britain's largest mortgage lender.

[scooby5]

Sorry, but how is providing a bridge loan at 11% interest and taking 80% of the shares and the entire assets of the company as collateral a bailout?

It's a bailout if it wasn't just left to shut doors. Call it "save" if you will but in this case the meaning is the same.

[up and away]

Urgh!

Appearently the idiots from the KFW (owned by the German government) transferred 300 million Euros to Lehman Brothers on September 15th- at a time when its bancruptcy was already unevitable

And since it is state owned I don't think the morons who did this will be fired

[MAN Flyer]

Just going back to this for a moment. Has anybody been 'grounded' temporarily or otherwise due to the current situation, or told to cutback on travel ?.

A friend of mine who works for a fair sized European bank says they have introduced a travel ban since the 'markets went to sh*t' and until things settle down.

[milehighj]

I hear unconfirmed anecdotal reports of certain Swiss bankers being told to fly longhaul Y...

[Kiwi]

Just going back to this for a moment. Has anybody been 'grounded' temporarily or otherwise due to the current situation, or told to cutback on travel ?.

A friend of mine who works for a fair sized European bank says they have introduced a travel ban since the 'markets went to sh*t' and until things settle down.

Not me. But I am looking to cut back personal travel next year. Currency has fallen rapidly and with more big interest rate cuts coming, will keep dropping for the next several months at least

[Lobster]

I have not been told specifically to cut back on travel but I do have to cut my overheads by 10% next year. However there is a get out clause that states if I can increase my revenue then I do not have to cut the overheads. I am still hoping despite the downturn in the global economy I will be able to increase my revenue next year so will not have to cut costs (which for me is to cut staff as staff costs makes up about 95% of my overhead costs).

[jjpb3]

We follow our clients' sensitivities. A major client just instituted a travel ban, so we have also stopped most travel that is related to this project.

[SQflyergirl]

We've not been told to cut back on travel specifically related to the current crisis, however, we're perpetually told to cut back every single year. For most of my colleagues - it's a happy thing, because they don't like the road warrioring.

[9V-JKL]

Reduction. All travel must now be justified by an essay and submitted to CxO at HQ for approval. It used to be just to my local MD.

[Kyo]

On a positive note, it's never been a better time to change SGD into AUD.

1: 0.995 at the moment, so I'm off to the moneychangers...

[milehighj]

Dear all,

What's going on now is truly unprecedented, and beyond the comprehension of most so-called "leaders" of governments and financial institutions.

Hope everyone is personally not overly exposed to the financial markets and resists the temptation to jump in now. The fallout will last a very long time and impact everyone.

Cheers.

[N_Architect]

I'm not affected as I have expat contract with clearly defined yearly travel allowance that covers a number of round trips Asia - Europe (in Y, of course), so no probs here.

Probs start when you want to book in J class, in the sense that you'll have to pay the price difference out of your own pocket. We also have corporate rates with LH and SK which can help in certain cases (for me mostly when I can't get a seat with SQ...) and which people tend to use as SK especially offers Executive Economy.

[Nick C]

The A$ is getting a huge battering. For the first time in many years, the S$ is stronger again.

[Kyo]

Interestingly, only one out of the three most competitive moneychangers in Singapore's People's Park Complex would agree to exchange SGD to AUD, and even that with a larger offset than normal. I also exchange very frequently here and they tend to give me a sharper rate. The manager was not too impressed when he discovered the rate the dealer gave (even with the larger than normal offset, he scolded the dealer for not charging 0.04 more). The other two shops flat out refused to exchange because the AUD was too volatile.

(Tip for future visitors to SIN - People's Park Complex in Chinatown is regarded as one of the best, if not the best place, to get the most competitive rates for forex in SIN - not at the bank/airport)