Financial Meltdown (The World)

[BFG]

I can start my old songs again....

There is one Aussie dollar to the pound
There are two Aussie dollars to the pound,
There are three Aussie dollars, four Aussie dollars, five Aussie dollars to the pound

WE'RE SO RICH IT'S UNBELIEVABLE!

(OK, the Barmy Army came up with that one..... )

Yes. But to take advantage of the exchange rate, you'd need to go to Australia.

I'm not actually sure it's worth it...

[Fat Bob]

OK, considering next years visit in June/July...


There are 6 Jaapie Rand to the Dollar.....

[avatarless]

good grief! I know that the euro is still an experimental currency, but could this crises actually take it down? any thoughts? Morro? HoD? It's hard to see how it could be a reserve currency if one of 26 countries could take it hostage...

[Kooky]

Just to update part of the discussion, UK bank guarantee limit now raised to GBP50k.

Save me reading 11 pages - is there any such thing in Singapore?

[Fat Bob]

I've heard the Singapore amount is $20k, but only heard, not seen it from any corporation.

Anyhow, I owe the banks more than they owe me, so I'm happy in most cases!

[Dinosaur]

I think Singapore does guarantee a certain amount in Singapore banks - I can't remember how much but it's not a significant amount (as I recall).

What interests me though (as most of my savings are in Singapore) is that the Sing gov does tend to bail out the banks in times of problems albeit in a hidden way - ie during the asian crisis. So I'm presuming, maybe foolishly, that Singapore banks are probably the safest best for cash at the moment???

Any thoughts from our learned bankers out there?

[Burbage]

Probably the safest place to keep your money at the moment is PayPal.

[baloo]

I'm not a banker by any stretch, too many morals for that.

But I would agree with you that the SG Gov would keep their local banks alive during any meltdown. I guess if the meltdown was bad enough they might sacrifice one up but I doubt that.

The other question is whether the SGD is the right currency to hold onto during this mess.

ASX down ~5% today. That's uglier than fat Bob skinny dipping in the Japanese Emporers palace.

[Burbage]

The other question is whether the SGD is the right currency to hold onto during this mess.

Or the Aussie dollar...

[baloo]

AUD was always going to take a battering. It was reaching the highest levels in a long long time for no reason other than the RBA was raising interest rates in an attempt to curb inflation.

I still think CHF & JPN are the safest plays for the next 6 months, but I'm running at about a 15% win rate when it comes to playing the FX markets.

[Morrolan]

67 cents to against the Greenback... bloody hell, we almost had parity 3 months ago...

[baloo]

Best bit is that it's nearly parity with the SGD

[Kooky]

Shit. I hate having to make grown-up decisions.

[canuck]

I think Singapore does guarantee a certain amount in Singapore banks - I can't remember how much but it's not a significant amount (as I recall).

only some banks, not all
no not a banker

[baloo]

Local banks are protected. DBS/POSB, OCBC, UOB. But only the SGD$ Accounts.

[daffodil]

Best bit is that it's nearly parity with the SGD

Good time for me to transfer my funds back to Aus for my home purchase!

[Fat Bob]

FTSE100 down again, UK putting in £500 billion to keep the banks going.

Err.....isn't that more than in the US? 300 million people in the US, 60 million in the UK. Why does the UK need 10-20% more for 5 times less people?

Wonder what this will do to Labour's rep. Huge loan to the banks, pensions and savings funds must have taken a knock or two, bet people are dead happy the taxman is now going to put in a rather large sum of money. That's £8k/person!

Interesting indeed. I wonder how much the SG Government is doing behind the scenes?

[baloo]

UK putting in £500 billion to keep the banks going.

I know being English, and a sports fan, leads you exagerate at times, but I think the bail out was 50Bill, not 500Bill.

[Fat Bob]

Torygraph reports £500bn, whereas Yahoo! says it's £50bn with further monies available for soemthing or other, totalling £450bn.

I'm with the Torygraph on this one!

[Dinosaur]

I'm not a banker by any stretch, too many morals for that.

But I would agree with you that the SG Gov would keep their local banks alive during any meltdown. I guess if the meltdown was bad enough they might sacrifice one up but I doubt that.

The other question is whether the SGD is the right currency to hold onto during this mess.

ASX down ~5% today. That's uglier than fat Bob skinny dipping in the Japanese Emporers palace.

Well I wasn't advocating the SGD, just the SG banks.

On a different note, can any learned fellows on this site explain why the Thai Baht is NOT in meltdown mode please? The Baht just keeps getting stronger and stronger - why? A lot of expats here in meltdown

[Lichtgestalt]

Torygraph reports £500bn, whereas Yahoo! says it's £50bn with further monies available for soemthing or other, totalling £450bn.

I'm with the Torygraph on this one!

FT says £50bn as well, and only half of it is used now, the other 25bn are just there as a standby so a bit of exageration there.

[daffodil]

Typical quailty reporting from the Torygraph

[Fat Bob]

On a different note, can any learned fellows on this site explain why the Thai Baht is NOT in meltdown mode please? The Baht just keeps getting stronger and stronger - why? A lot of expats here in meltdown

The Thai Baht is not in meltdown mainy because of the number of people walking around and shouting "F%^K IT". Most of the money traders are mishearing this and think they are saying Phuket, and therefore think a lot of people are heading to Thailand for a holiday.

Hence the Thau Baht is just staying still or going up!

[baloo]

Ouch, AUD below the SGD

[Fat Bob]

Buy buy buy?