Foreign Exchange - UK Daily Update - Monday, September 29, 2008 7:41 - 0 Comments

Banks Bailed Out Over Weekend – World First’s Morning FX Update – 29th September 2008

If today were to have a symbol it should surely be a Thunderbird doll such are the size of the International Rescues published over the weekend; packages in the UK, US and Benelux countries have all been announced in the past 24 hours.

Bradford & Bingley, or Bungled & Badly as they have come to be known in the City, has been seized by the UK government. The Treasury will take control of the bank’s £50bn mortgage book while the £20bn savings and branch network are to be bought by Santander bank, who already own Abbey and Alliance & Leicester.

The largest Belgian financial services firm, Fortis bank, is to receive 3 loans after confidence in the bank evaporated last week and liquidity issues were exacerbated. It is the largest European firm to be bailed out in the wake of the credit crunch although the euro has not weakened by as much as you would expect.

The main news this morning however is the announcement of an agreement between Republican and Democratic members of Congress on a bail out package. Dollar has strengthened by over 1% already this morning as the world waits for a definitive vote on the policy.

Indicative Rates
	Sell	Buy
GBPEUR	1.2610	1.2636
GBPUSD	1.8090	1.8114
EURUSD	1.4328	1.4350
GBPJPY	192.29	192.98
GBPAUD	2.2095	2.2136
GBPNZD	2.6675	2.6730
GBPCAD	1.8807	1.8886
NZDUSD	0.6754	0.6782
GBPZAR	14.75	14.80
USDZAR	8.14	8.18
GBPPLN	4.2440	4.2730
Rates are dependent on amount transacted Please call 0207 801 9080 for a live rate quote

Please feel free to contact me (jeremy.cook@worldfirst.com) if you have any questions or thoughts regarding these updates or if you are interested in a particular event in the calendar. If you would like to discuss your foreign exchange requirements, please contact our:Corporate Foreign Exchange Team on 020 7801 9050 or our Private Client Currency Exchange Team on 020 7801 9080. Disclaimer: The above comments are only our views and should not be construed as advice. You should act using your own information and judgement. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions and estimates constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice.Any rates given are “interbank” i.e. for amounts of £5million and thus are not indicative of rates offered by World First for smaller amounts. E&OE. Definitions of jargon/market terms can be found in our Glossary of Foreign Exchange Terms.