Final Word from Wednesday, October 1, 2008
So many people have come forward to swear by the stability of the Czech banking system in the past 48 hours that depositors are starting to become suspicious. If the spotlight is shining toward any one bank, it's ČSOB, because of the similarity of the situation of its parent bank, KBC, to that of Fortis. Times like this must really make ČSOB wish its supervisory board chairman, Jan Švejnar, had won the battle earlier this year for the Czech presidency. Instead, the bank faces a hostile Castle and a hostile finance ministry. Some people in ODS would consider it poetic justice if ČSOB were hit with a run on deposits the way IPB was eight years ago. If it happened, though, it would pose a greater risk to the broader banking system than even the failure of IPB in 2000. If there is anything the U.S. crisis has shown conclusively, it's that petty politicking when banks are tottering is an expensive endeavor.[Czech Republic Belgium bailout]
Glossary of difficult words
to swear by something - to have or express great confidence in the use, value or effectiveness of something;
poetic justice - the fact of experiencing a fitting or deserved retribution for one's actions;
conclusively - in a decisive or convincing way;
petty - of little importance, trivial;
to totter - to be on the verge of collapsing;
endeavor - an enterprise or undertaking.