Word: reed
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Treasury Secretary James Baker gave Reed a more tepid endorsement. Said he: "I venture that all in all it will be seen as a positive step." Baker, who presumably had concerns that Citicorp's actions might discourage other banks from participating in his Third World initiative, nonetheless expressed hope that the bank will continue lending in Latin America, where it has $14.8 billion in loans outstanding. Citicorp is particularly exposed in Brazil ($4.6 billion), Mexico ($2.9 billion), Argentina ($1.5 billion) and Venezuela ($1 billion...
...Reed, 48, who has been Citicorp's chairman since 1984, the daring new policy highlights his emergence as the country's most influential banker (see box). By making such a turnabout on the loans, Reed is moving out of the shadow of his predecessor and mentor, Walter Wriston, who was largely responsible for Citicorp's eightfold expansion between 1967 and his retirement. Wriston was also the premier spokesmen for the go-go lending policies of U.S. banks in the 1970s. Even though to some extent Reed's current action repudiates his former boss's strategy, most bankers think Wriston would...
...What Reed was doing could perhaps best be described as preventive medicine. The youthful chairman could see that Citicorp's hefty Third World commitment, which forms more than 10% of the bank's total loan portfolio, posed a severe threat to the bank's future prosperity. The income from those loans was dwindling because of all the concessionary terms -- lengthened repayment schedules, lowered interest rates -- that creditors worldwide have been granting to Third World debtors in order to keep them from defaulting. Then the entire international credit edifice was badly shaken last February when Brazil announced an indefinite moratorium...
Thus, long before last week's announcement, Reed had embarked on a two-part strategy to try to maintain profits on Citicorp's foreign debts while reducing the bank's dependence on them. Citicorp's new, hard accounting line first emerged last September, when a committee representing more than 350 banks was negotiating a debt package with Mexico. Breaking ranks with his U.S. banking colleagues, Reed protested the terms of the final deal. Mexico successfully rescheduled $44 billion of old debts at bargain rates and got $6 billion in fresh cash that helped, in part, to make the interest payments...
...Reed was especially worried by the seemingly endless flow of fresh money to major Third World creditors. That cash outflow only served to increase the bank's vulnerability, creating a vicious cycle with which other major banks are also painfully familiar. To reduce that exposure, Reed in 1985 directed that Citicorp begin to build up its offsetting reserves. That year the bank set aside $1.2 billion. Last year the total jumped again, to $1.7 billion...