What are banks most afraid of?

You don't need much professional knowledge, but ordinary people with a little experience can probably know it, two words: run.

Any bank, once there is a run, the result is catastrophic.

Just one day on February 26, the investigation by the regulatory authorities and the withdrawal of Westinghouse Electric, the two major negative superpositions caused panic, quickly caused a run on Mellon Financial Group by customers.

As a veteran local bank established for more than 100 years, Mellon Financial Group's market value reached $13.9 billion the day before the incident, however, as of the close of the afternoon, under the impact of negative news, Mellon Financial Group's stock price plummeted by 21%, and the closing market value was only $10.9 billion, and in one day, all shareholders of the bank had a book loss of $3 billion.

However, the plunge in stock prices is secondary, and everyone understands that the most serious problem is the run.

If this problem is not resolved quickly, Mellon, a century-old local bank, may not survive next week or collapse and will have more negative knock-on effects.

For the next two days, the incident continued to ferment without any miracles.

Mellon Financial Group's valuation continued to fall 13% and 9% respectively in the next two trading days, and by the close of trading on Friday, its market value had plummeted to $8.6 billion from $13.9 billion three days earlier. At the same time, for three consecutive days, the bank's customers have accumulated as many as $67 in cash withdrawal and transfer applications, and this old local bank with assets of $43 billion, according to the federal reserve ratio of about 8% at this time, can come up with less than $3.5 billion in cash in the short term.

Therefore, extractions can only be restricted.

This has only caused further panic and runs.

Pittsburgh.

Inside one of the Mellon family's estates.

It was Friday evening.

Most of the members of the Mellon family, which had been gradually dividing since the death of Andrew Mellon, rarely got together again, and the first thing they saw was a heated argument between Richard Mellon Scaife and his sister Cordelia Scaife May, who caused all this today.

Their mother, Sarah Cordelia Mellon, is the granddaughter of the founder of the Mellon family, Thomas Mellon, and the fourth-generation Mellon, both in their sixties, have not spoken to each other for nearly 30 years because of an inheritance dispute after their mother's death.

"It's been like this since childhood, it's been like this since childhood, you arrogant and incompetent fool, you don't know anything but drink and play with women, you live to be sixty years old, and you can only do these stupid things that affect the family. ”

Or, don't tell me that you have lost a lot of money by secretly following everyone to invest in shorting technology stocks, which can only mean that you are more stupid. ”

"If I had known that it was you, an idiot, who was behind my back, I wouldn't have invested a dime in killing me. Hey, I lost some, but look at you, you took so much back then, how much is left this time? haha, I'm waiting to see you go bankrupt, idiot. ”

"I should have taken more, at least I've done some things over the years, what about you, what have you done but to lie on your mother's inheritance and enjoy life? You didn't do anything!"

"Did you do something, build a media conglomerate, and then go to provoke the president, dig up other people's privacy, hey, what did you dig up? Clinton is still in the White House, but this time, Mellon Finance was suddenly investigated, why do you think it is, idiot, why do you say this is?"

"Bichi, shut up. ”

"Idiot!"

When the quarrel between the two almost developed to the level of a physical altercation, Timothy Mellon pushed his father Paul Mellon in, and the old man, who was in a wheelchair and happened to be 90 years old this year, motioned for his son to come forward, and directly picked up his crutches and hit Richard Mellon Scaife, finally stopping the dispute.

Interrupting the quarrel between the two juniors, Paul Mellon glanced around all the juniors in the hall and gestured to his son again.

Timothy Mellon didn't talk nonsense, looking at the people around him who were standing or sitting: "Frank Court came back from Washington in the afternoon, and the authorities mean to ask the Bank of New York to take over Mellon Financial, so let's talk about your opinion?"

Frank Court, CEO of Mellon Financial Group, has held this position since 1987 and has been a loyal face for the Mellon family.

As soon as Timothy Mellon finished speaking, one of his cousins, Matthew Mellon, said: "It's too obvious, this is a conspiracy, I remember that the Bank of New York tried to buy Mellon Financial last year." ”

Another Richard Prosell-Mellon, who was on the same team as Richard Mellon Scaife, said, "Timothy, I just want to know, what do we get by agreeing to the Bank of New York to take over, or, to put it bluntly, what do we have left?"

Timothy Mellon looked at his cousin, who was a few years older than him, shook his head and said, "This is just Washington's request for Mellon Finance, about our matter, after the decision is made tonight, we still need to contact Washington." ”

Cassandra Mellon, another middle-aged female member of the Mellon family, said: "If Washington doesn't make promises, of course we can't say anything." ”

"The problem now, Cass, is that we only have one night to make a decision. You know, even though the stock market is closed over the weekend, the run is still there, and we can't afford to drag it out. ”

Cordelia, who had just finished arguing with her brother, interjected: "Then don't talk about anything, if Mellon Finance collapses because of the run, it is not us who will lose the most, I don't believe that the White House dares to watch this happen." ”

"If only it were that simple," Matthew Mellon said, "If we don't take the initiative to cooperate, the situation of Mellon Finance will deteriorate to a certain extent, and the authorities have the power to forcibly take over, and then we will completely lose the initiative." ”

Cassandra Mellon added: "Then we can't make a compromise without talking, I still insist that Washington give us promises in order to make concessions." ”

"It's all about time. ”

"It's better to put it off until Monday. ”

In the hall, Paul Mellon, who is the only surviving son of Andrew Mellon, leaned on his wheelchair and listened quietly to everyone's arguments for a while, inexplicably sad.

Thinking about the glory of the Mellon family in the past, and looking at these people at this time, they only thought about retreating and getting out in their words, and even, the children of these families even subconsciously did not mention the name of a young man who caused all this, it can be imagined, let alone confront it.

Thinking so, Paul Mellon raised his hand slightly to prepare for everyone, and then looked at Richard Mellon Scaife, who had been silent just now: "Charlie, why don't you talk about it?"

Richard Mellon Scaife had just been slapped by the old man who was supposed to be his uncle, and his shoulder was still aching at this time, and he craned his neck slightly when he heard this, and looked at the chandelier on the ceiling: "I don't have anything to say." ”

Cordelia next to him immediately followed and mocked: "Yes, he has been like this scoundrel since he was a child, and then waited for Daddy Mommy to clean up the mess." ”

Paul Mellon glared at the bitter niece, and slowly swept towards everyone, seeing that these younger generations were full of evasive eyes, and his heart was even more depressed. If the Mellon family can hold together and accumulate the heritage accumulated over hundreds of years, this may only be able to take a look, and now, in the face of a certain behemoth, people's hearts are scattered, and there is no fighting spirit, even if he, an old man, still has some ideas, he can't use them at all.

Pursing his dry and old lips, Paul Mellon finally said: "Since you can't make up your mind, I'll let Tim deal with this matter, you guys are mentally prepared, Mellon Finance will definitely not be able to keep it, but, if nothing else, let Mellon Finance and the other party ...... We won't be chasing it anymore. So, Matthew, Cass, and Charlie, do you have any opinions?"

There was a moment of silence.

Cassandra Mellon said again after a moment: "Uncle, really...... If we give up Mellon Financial, will it be over?"

"Just look at the Hearst family, Simon Westeros is not a person who likes to chase after him, and all he wants this time is Mellon Finance," Paul Mellon finally said a certain name, glanced at the expressions on everyone's faces again, and added: "The premise is that you don't provoke him again in the future, and An An will share your own life." ”

The atmosphere was inexplicably awkward, and some of the family children looked at Richard Mellon Scaife again.

Being stared at by a bunch of eyes, Richard Mellon Scaife quickly blushed, and said angrily: "Simon Westeros, what is he, he is just an upstart, it's a big deal, the bombing of Woodfield Manor two years ago, I let ......"

Before Richard Mellon Scaife finished speaking, Paul Mellon had already thrown the crutches in his hand on the nephew who couldn't see the situation clearly, and said viciously: "Idiot, can't you see the situation clearly, the Woodfield Manor bombing, hey, why don't you pick up the JFK assassination case, look at all these years, who dares to investigate this matter, and then look at the fate of the Kennedy family's children, you want to kill all of us?"

Richard Mellon Scaife was also angry, and he was continuously targeted by this uncle, and he couldn't hold back anymore, and roared: "I won't harm you, just treat me as an outsider, and from today onwards, I will cut off relations with the Mellon family, is it okay?"

Paul Mellon saw Richard Mellon Scaife talking with a red face, and became even more angry, staring at his lips trembling, waving his arms slightly, but unfortunately the crutches in his hand had been thrown out, so he could only raise his hand and accuse Scaife: "Sever the relationship, heh, everything you have now is given to you by the surname Mellon, you first spit out all the property in your name, and then talk about severing the relationship." Come, if you want, I'll call the lawyer right now, would you like to?"

Seeing the fierce appearance of the old man almost standing up and pounced on him, the majesty planted by this uncle since he was a child made Richard Mellon Scaife finally calm down, and once again stiffened his neck and did not answer.

Timothy Mellon squatted down to help his father hold his chest, paused, and whispered to everyone: "I called a friend in the FBI, and he said that all the evidence files on the Woodfield Manor bombing had mysteriously disappeared last year. Now, even if it's ...... Westeros himself jumped out and said that he did it, and there was no evidence of it. ”

After Timothy said this, everyone looked at each other.

Paul Mellon recovered from his son's reassurance, and finally spoke again, his tone full of gloom: "That's it, you guys go back and prepare." Although this time the Bank of New York must be a share exchange merger, the Mellon family's shares will not be kept, all of them will be sold, and we will completely withdraw. After saying this, Paul Mellon looked at a certain nephew again: "Also, Charlie, your "Pittsburgh Tribune", turn it off, anyway, you know, even if it is not closed, this newspaper will not last a few years, Tim asked, you don't have many ad orders over there." ”

Paul Mellon's tone slowed down, and Richard Mellon, who was already timid, didn't talk back, but still tentatively said: "It's okay for me to sell, right?"

Paul Mellon hated iron and steel: "Who are you going to sell to, who do you think you dare to ask?"

Richard Mellon Scaife paused, nodding his head slightly, almost without a trace.

Paul Mellon opened his mouth, and wanted to tell him something more, thinking that there was no exit after all, he raised his hand and waved: "Since this is the case, let's disperse, and ...... in the future." Heh, I don't have much time, I can't do it. ”

After the Mellon family made their decision, things began to take a swift turn.

After urgent consultations for the next day, early on Sunday morning, the Bank of New York publicly announced that in view of the sudden outbreak of the critical situation of Mellon Financial Group, with the support of the regulatory authorities, the Bank of New York will carry out an emergency takeover of Mellon Financial Group, the board of directors of Mellon Financial Group was dissolved on the same day, and CEO Frank Court announced his resignation, but he will still assist in the subsequent merger of Mellon Financial by Bank of New York.

Mellon Financial Group's board of directors previously had a total of eight members, five of whom were representatives of the Mellon family, which basically amounted to absolute control over the old bank.

Now, the board of directors is dissolved, and the Bank of New York will take over and merge Mellon Financial, completely announcing the end of the Mellon era.

Not only that, apparently in order to alleviate the bank's run, Westinghouse Electric, which just announced yesterday that it had parted ways with Mellon Financial, suddenly changed its attitude and took the initiative to clarify that its reaction to the authorities' investigation of Mellon Financial's internal problems was somewhat excessive, so it retracted yesterday's decision and will continue to cooperate with this bank in the future.

Such a rollercoaster of peaks and loops has bewildered countless spectators, and even a prominent financial reporter for the Wall Street Journal has called out a conspiracy on his Facebook.

This financial reporter also turned up a rumor at the end of last year about the rejection of the Bank of New York's acquisition of the Mellon Financial Group, so he judged that the series of events that have occurred in the past few days are all disgraceful measures taken by the Bank of New York to annex the Mellon Financial Group.

It's a pity that the overall situation has been decided, and these voices that don't actually explore the deeper inside story have not caused any waves in the mainstream media.

As for the few pyramids that roughly knew the cause and effect of all these events, they were once again shocked by the collapse of the Mellon family like an avalanche in front of the Westeros system, and inevitably had a little more awe and jealousy.