Tett: Who will organise a collective global response if another financial crisis hits?

Fed will embrace geoeconomics. This is very notable — particularly given that, a day later, Bessent revealed that the United Arab Emirates and “numerous” other Gulf and Asian countries have asked the US government for dollar swap lines.

Trump seems keen to comply. “If I could help them, I would,” he said. And this sends two big messages to markets.

Some governments fear there is a real — and rising — risk that the Iran war will create financial instability. 

 The second message. Back during the global financial crisis of 2008, it was the New York Fed, under Timothy Geithner, that led efforts to calm markets. 

Back then it used its own dollar swap lines, since the Fed has permanent arrangements to address short-term strains with five western central banks, and had temporary arrangements with nine more.

Bessent is skilled at handling financial markets and has brought a market-savvy team to the Treasury. Bessent says he wants to use swaps to promote American dominance and reward allies, “locking in dollar supremacy”.

It raises another crucial question: who will organise a collective global response if another financial crisis hits? 

Yes, inflation matters. But global financial stability matters now enormously, too.

Gillian Tett Financial Times 24 april 2026

https://www.ft.com/content/aa7b9fe2-662b-42a4-b9b4-1f6675a30519?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Stress Test is the story of Tim Geithner’s education in financial crises. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and then as President Barack Obama’s secretary of the Treasury, Timothy F. Geithner helped the United States navigate the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, from boom to bust to rescue to recovery. 

This is the inside story of how a small group of policy makers—in a thick fog of uncertainty, with unimaginably high stakes—helped avoid a second depression but lost the American people doing it.

Stress Test is also a valuable guide to how governments can better manage financial crises, because this one won’t be the last.

https://www.amazon.com/Stress-Test-Timothy-F-Geithner-audiobook/dp/B00J4X5MDE/ref=sr_1_1

24 april

https://englundmacro.blogspot.com/2026/04/24-april-tett-carl-hamilton-camilla.html