Jim Trott, chief dealer of the Bank of England, discussing
- September 16, 1992 — the day that George Soros went head-to-head in the currency markets against the UK’s central bank—and won. How does it feel to be the Goliath who lost to Soros?
- his thoughts about trying to fix an exchange rate
- international dealmaking with the Bundesbank
- “I was going to say truckload, there’s not a truck that’s big enough…I’ve bought more sterling than anyone else in the world, in the span of about four hours”.
- “We raised interest rates—twice—during the day, to crisis levels (14%)”.
- “I took us in and I took us out” of the fixed exchange-rate system.
- “Nigel Lawson…had the idea that, if we matched…to Germany, then everything fine and wonderful in Germany would accrue to the UK”.
- “At least we kept our currency. We didn’t have to consider what would happen if it actually went beyond that”.
