Wikileaks: Bank of England wanted refinance plan in 2008
by The Canadian Press
A cable included in the Wikileaks documents show the Bank of England saw the global banking and finance crisis coming six months before it hit
LONDON—U.S. diplomats say Bank of England governor Mervyn King suggested that Britain, the U.S., Switzerland and possibly Japan bail out the global banking system in March 2008—some six months before the financial crisis peaked.
In a U.S. Embassy cable published by the Guardian on Tuesday, King is reported as telling U.S. ambassador to Britain Robert Tuttle and U.S. Treasury deputy secretary Robert Kimitt that the four countries might form "a temporary new group to jointly develop an effort to bring together sources of capital to recapitalize all major banks."
King suggested the new group would override the "dysfunctional" Group of Seven industrialized countries.
But Kimmitt expressed caution about starting new groups because of inclusion debates.
The cable was released by the WikiLeaks site.
