Thursday, June 23, 2016

Are British Banks Waging A Campaign Of Fear On The EU Referendum?



The Telegraph: Banks warn clients of chaos after referendum vote is declared

Leading banks have written to clients to warn of market chaos in the wake of the referendum vote.

They fear a vote for Brexit would lead to the most volatile market in decades, The Times reported. The paper said that the Bank of England was on “high alert” to intervene.

There are fears that the FTSE would collapse and as much as £350 billion could be wiped off the value of major companies if voters back withdrawal from the EU.

Several banks, including HSBC, UBS, Morgan Stanley, UBS, Merrill Lynch and Bank of America have sent notes to clients warning of choppy waters ahead.

Earlier this week Colm Kelleher, Morgan Stanley’s president warned a no vote would be the most important political event in Europe since the end of the war and could result in the company relocating its regional headquarters in Dublin or Frankfurt.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: Are these fears justified .... for the immediate short term no. A U.K. vote to leave the EU will have an impact .... but it will be over the long term .... not the overnight chaos that some of the banks are predicting. And is this campaign of fear having an impact .... I would have to say yes. People are hard-wired to keep the status quo, especially when they are told that the alternative would hurt them where it hurts them the most .... their pocket books.

2 comments:

Bob Huntley said...

The banks are performing their fiduciary responsibility of advising the obvious so they don't get sued later. It won't change things.

A broker friend of mine told me she called her major clients when Nortel was beginning to turn and advised them that they should think about divesting. One did, the rest didn't primarily because they didn't want to have to pay the capital gain tax. Most held on to the bitter end and lost everything they had in Nortel including the bit they might have paid the government.

B.Poster said...

The remain campaign has been increasingly shrill. Generally when people are this shrill "the sky is falling" type of thing I tend to be a bit skeptical of what they claim.

Remain has no rational arguments. They have only falsehoods and people's emotions to play with. Are the British smart enough to see through this? I certainly hope so.