Sunday, September 16, 2007

The Cyber-run

The Northern Rock is facing a bank run. Withdrawals have already topped GBP 2 Billion.

The photograph shows people standing in line to withdraw their money. But in the age of electronic banking why not log in and send a wire? What when we reach the point where a bank run can be triggered by some blog post and takes place in hours rather than days?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Phil, Phil, Phil..

people began trying to get their money moved as soon as the news was announced on the previous evening, but the site has crashed because it can't handle the number of requests.

That would actually be some protection for an internet-only bank threatened by a run: people wouldn't be able to get their money out. But it's frustrating the hell out of the people who have internet-only accounts with N Rock.

I find it an interesting example of the Catch-22 mentality: "What if everyone did [bad thing]?" "Then I'd be a fool not to, wouldn't I?"