>Surely the main
>thing we've learnt from the last few crises is that bondholders don't
>really exercise any control at all?
Ecuador's possible default on its Brady Bonds - they're almost halfway through a 30-day grace period, with a deadline of Sept 28 - is interesting in this regard. The IMF apparently wants to make a test case of Ecuador for its new "bail-in" strategy - i.e., making private creditors take a hit when a country gets into trouble. It's urging Ecuador to renegotiate terms with the holders of its bonds - but there are just too many of them for this to be possible in a few weeks. Compare this with the 1980s LatAm debt crisis, when William Rhodes of Citibank and a relative handful of his colleagues could restructure debts quietly and fairly quickly. There are a few complications to the Americanization of global finance.
Doug