Anthony Sampson writes, in "The Changing Anatomy of Britain", Random House, New York, 1982,
Eurodollar Empire
"Today, together with allies on the island of Manhattan (Britainâs most important piece of real estate), the British Empire controls the entire $1.5 trillion Eurodollar financial market, another $300-$500 billion in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, and $50-$100 billion in the Hong-Kong Singapore "Asia-dollar market". . . . Consider the $1.5 trillion Eurodollar market an "outlaw" market in the U.S. dollars over which this nation has no control. Here control and profits are overwhelmingly in the hands of London banks, who set the terms of lending and the interest rate on this mass of American dollars in relation to the London Interbank Borrowing
182
Rate (LIBOR) . . . U.S. banks like Citibank (New York City), on whose board of directors sits the powerful British financier, Lord Aldington, collaborate openly in this market. At the same time, British banks including the known central bank for the worldâs drug trade, the Hongkong and Shanghai Bank, pour into America to devour U.S. banks. In 1978 the Hongshang (Ed.--Hongkong and Shanghai Bank) took over New Yorkâs Marine Midland Bank, the stateâs 11th largest commercial bank. . . The British also control the creation of American dollars. While Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker tightens credit against the domestic economy, British-controlled banks in the Cayman Islands (such as the European American Bank--Ed.) a British possession 200 miles off Florida, and in the Bermudas and a dozen other "free banking" computer terminals create hundreds of billions of American dollars. How is this done? There are no reserve ratios or other restrictions on the creation of dollar-denominated credits in the Empireâs "free enterprise" banking. A $1 million bona fide credit coming from the United States can be turned into $20 to $100 million in dollar-denominated credits as it passes through the British system without reserve ratios."*