As recounted in harrowing detail in the book “The Snowball,” Salomon came within hours of failure over a weekend in late August.5 Salomon was clearly understood to be outside the safety net, and I recall no discussion of a government rescue. But the firm’s failure would almost certainly have caused massive disruption in the markets.
As designed, SMEs that receive credit surety guarantee from the Fund can present this to banks as collateral for their loans. This is a relatively new program and so far, we have created 20 Credit Surety Funds: in four cities and in 16 provinces. Ladies and gentlemen.