The Quant-quake of August 2007 should have been enough to alert anyone paying attention that the oddities in the credit markets that spring weren't a one-off and that something bad was happening.
As I said in 2010:
...Although the BBC's Robert Peston got the scoop, FT Alphaville bulldogged the story.
From the BBC:
21:03 GMT (22:03 UK)
Northern Rock gets bank bail outI just happened to be in the office the evening of the 13th and apparently one of the FT Alphaville staffers happened to be at their office at 23:22 British Summer Time!
Here's the post, the first of many:
As a follow-up to the post immediately below.On Friday the 14th it was a run on the bank:
Talk about a dynamic situation. Whatever happened to 3-6-3 banking?
From FT Alphaville:
All Chauffeur Alert! Bank of England Court convenes
It’s not the sort of invitation you’d turn down: 9.30 pm, Threadneedle Street, don’t be late. FT Alphaville understands that the governor, Mervyn King, his two deputies and the 16 non-executive members of the Bank of England’s Court of Directors convened on Thursday evening.
Needless to say, this will have been quite a confab, attendees ranging from Arun Sarin of Vodafone to Sir Callum McCarthy of the FSA, along with the in-house Bank team and the rest of the gang....
Northern Rock: Customers line up to withdraw fundsThe morning of Saturday the 15th:
Northern Rock (LON: NRK) Updates
When I read that The City's Stockbrokers and Fund Managers were queuing up to withdraw their deposits, well, it gets your attention....I was so tired I degenerated to New York Post style headlines:
Rock, Paper, ScissoredMerrill Lynch came out with a buy rec. and a price target of 913 pence. Alphaville commented "We like a ballsy call, here on FT Alphaville, but what's this?
What's a Rock Worth? Lon: NRK; This Could be AwkwardMore Post style headlines:
Panic on the streets of Britain: Northern rocked, City shockedOn Sunday it just got silly...
