Bank staff and savers across the Channel Islands are waiting to find out if there'll be any impact here after three high street names were part-nationalised by the British Government.
The Royal Bank of Scotland, Halifax-Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB will all be bailed out by UK taxpayers.
Of those, RBS will receive the biggest cash injection, £20 million, after its chief cxecutive and chairman both stood down. It means 60% of the bank will now be in public ownership. But what will it mean for customers in the Islands?
The Royal Bank of Scotland branch in Jersey is operated by RBSI, the company's international division. Its management wasn't prepared to comment on today's news. But observers have described it as perhaps the most extraordinary day in British banking history and an absolute humiliation for the banks concerned.
Whether RBS feels humiliated by the government bail-out is probably something we'll never know. But the annoucement's being hailed as good news by its customers in Jersey.
Collins Stewart Banking Analyst Alex Potter told Channel Online: "This can only be seen as good news. In effect, the government are underwriting all of your savings locally in Jersey and in the wider Channel Islands and that means you can sleep easy at night, as it were."
The bail-out of RBS hasn't come without a cost to the bank. Shortly after this morning's rescue was announced the bank's chairman and chief executive said they'd be standing down. They're the latest casualties of the credit crunch, but they're not likely to be the last.
Apparently The Channel Islands wont feel the full force of the credit crunch.
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