Way back in September 2007 we noted that some lunatic at FT Alphaville was posting at 11:22 pm:
All Chauffeur Alert! Bank of England Court convenes
and thought this might be a story to keep an eye on.
The next day, Friday the 14th, it was:
Northern Rock: Customers line up to withdraw funds
This is a bit more interesting than the "Move along, nothing to see here" that we got from the Bank of England last night....
On Saturday:
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....
By then I had sort of lost it:
Panic on the streets of Britain: Northern rocked, City shocked
Rock, Paper, Scissored
Sorry.
I seem to be channeling the Post.
So yes, watch for lines at the banks.
From ZeroHedge:
"The Collateral Has Run Out" - JPM Warns ECB Will Use Greek "Nuclear Option" If No Monday Deal
In Athens on Friday, the ATM lines began to form in earnest.
Although estimates vary, Kathimerini, citing Greek banking officials, puts Friday’s deposit outflow at €1.7 billion. If true, that would mark a serious step up from the estimated €1.2 billion that left the banking system on Thursday and serves to underscore just how critical the ECB’s emergency decision to lift the ELA cap by €1.8 billion truly was. “Banks expressed relief following Frankfurt’s reaction, acknowledging that Friday could have ended very differently without a new cash injection,” the Greek daily said, adding that the ECB’s expectation of “a positive outcome in Monday’s meeting”, suggests ELA could be frozen if the stalemate remains after leaders convene the ad hoc summit. Bloomberg has more on the summit:
Dorothea Lambros stood outside an HSBC branch in central Athens on Friday afternoon, an envelope stuffed with cash in one hand and a 38,000 euro ($43,000) cashier’s check in the other....MORE
She was a few minutes too late to make her deposit at the London-based bank. She was too scared to take her life-savings back to her Greek bank. She worried it wouldn’t survive the weekend.
“I don’t know what happens on Monday,” said Lambros, a 58-year-old government employee.
Nobody does. Every shifting deadline, every last-gasp effort has built up to this: a nation that went to sleep on Friday not knowing what Monday will bring. A deal, or more brinkmanship. Shuttered banks and empty cash machines, or a few more days of euros in their pockets and drachmas in their past - - and maybe their future....
Yesterday at ZeroHedge:
"Bank Holiday" Preparations Begin In Greece, Lines Form At Athens ATMs