Lines to Withdraw Deposits Queue Up as Run on the Banks starts in Greece

With talk of 50% or 60% haircuts on Greek bonds, already mistrustful Greek citizens have queued up to pull deposits. ...

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DoChenRollingBearing said:

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Another guess. If the bank runs start "over there" it will not take long for the runs to start here.
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... As Bloomberg's Marcus Bensasson reports, citing Kathimerini, the Greek banking system has continued to hemorrhage deposits this month, amid uncertainty over the outcome of elections on June 17. "Many people are putting money in shares of mutual funds denominated in dollars because of the bureaucratic difficulty of taking money out of Greece, or are keeping cash at home, the newspaper said." How much? "Deposits are leaving the banking system at a rate of 100 million to 500 million euros ($125 million to $625 million) a day, Kathimerini said, without specifying over how long a period that rate of outflow has continued."

Considering that the Greece banking system has about €170 billion in total deposits, this is roughly 0.3% of the entire deposit base fleeing each day - those who understand the nuances of fractional reserve banking get why this could be an issue.

Putting this in the US context, which has over $8 trillion in various forms of deposits, this would be equivalents to about $25 billion getting withdrawn. Every day.

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