Word: asianized
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Derivatives are a kind of nuclear financial instrument. They are powerful and highly complicated agreements designed to offset certain financial risks. Under steady conditions they work well. But in derivatives, like nuclear mishaps, there are no small accidents. And as the Asian economic crisis worsens--and in Indonesia's case nears catastrophe--the financial Geiger counters are beginning to buzz...
...suddenly repudiated their derivative contracts, leaving Morgan out some $500 million. America's biggest lender, Chase Manhattan, saw its "nonperforming" assets in Asia triple in the first three months of 1998, to $243 million, due in part to derivatives. At the end of last year, its total risk from Asian derivatives--should others default--was more than $3 billion. Bankers Trust's derivatives' delinquencies have leaped from zero to $330 million in a year, and the compass points to Indonesian and Thai clients. In total, the bank has some $5 billion of derivative credit exposure in Asia. And Greenspan...
...comes the bad news. Some $10 trillion (yes, $10,000,000,000,000) in derivative contracts are set to mature this year for U.S. bankers, and the U.S. bankers are holding their collective breath to see which of their Asian clients will pay up. Many won't. "Those who believe there won't be any further derivative losses from Asia couldn't be more mistaken," says Edward Furash, a bank consultant based in Washington...
Thomson points out that if one or two large Asian parties default on their derivative contracts, computer screens around the world can be hit within seconds and instantly threaten other contracts. "It's like a bunch of climbers on a mountain all tied by a rope. But if one climber slips and falls into a crevasse, he can quickly drag the other climbers to their end with little chance of time for rescue," says Thomson...
That dam may have started to crack. While the U.S. banking industry pocketed record earnings last year, Morgan's fell 7%, to $1.46 billion. Derivatives are partly to blame. Morgan last year declared it had $659 million in nonperforming assets, 90% of which were defaults from Asian derivative counterparties. Among the defaulters were three South Korean companies, led by SK Securities, which early this year refused to pay $490 million that Morgan claims it is owed...