Il 16 September of the 1992 it was a wednesday, like today. But, unlike today, it was not a normal day: the books remember it as one of the most serious "Black Wednesdays" that punctuate the history of finance. What happened helped shape the reputation of the controversial financier George Soros, still at the center of a thousand conspiracy fantasies in the role of great puppeteer.
That day 28 years ago, however, the incredible happened for real. Through the bottom Quantum, the Hungarian financier, as a seasoned speculator, inflicted a very heavy blow to the Bank of England, shorting pounds worth more than $10 billion. The result was a historic devaluation, which forced the BoE to withdraw the British currency from the European Monetary System (EMS). Thanks to this attack, one of the most sensational ever, Soros earned about 1,1 billion dollars.
But it's not over. That same day, a similar operation was carried out against the Bank of Italycausing a currency loss of $48 billion. The lira sank by 30% and Via Nazionale - like the Bank of England - could do nothing but bring the currency out of the EMS.
To re-enter the system that guaranteed exchange rate stability, the Amato government was forced to one of the heaviest financial maneuvers in republican history. Value: approximately 93 trillion lire. In the cauldron of measures, the house tax (ICI) appeared for the first time, in addition to the most emergency of all measures: the forced levy on current accounts.
“The one against Italy was a legitimate financial operation – argued Soros a few years later – I based myself on the declarations of the Bundesbank, which said it would not support the Italian currency. It was enough to know how to read. Speculators do their job, they are not to blame. If anything, these are the responsibility of the legislators, who allow speculation to take place. Speculators are just the bearers of bad news."
