BRUSSELS, Nov 25 (Reuters) - The Chief Executive of troubled Franco-Belgian bank Dexia on Friday accused speculators of using underhand methods to try to force a default in sovereign bonds, a practice he compared to 17th-century piracy.
Pierre Mariani has been forced to seek government help for Dexia, after it was hit by the dwindling value of its holdings of European government bonds. At a seminar in Brussels, he spoke out against speculators who, he said, buy insurance against bond defaults, and then try to cause a default.
"We are pretty much in that situation, where there are bad people who buy these insurances, and behind they go and finance pirates who will allow them to make a lot of money on it," Mariani said.
"We are in a mechanism which is what the king of England banned in the 17th century," he said. "That's to say the naked insuring of shipping cargoes ... because there were bad people who subscribed to the insurance even though they had no stake in the ships in question and who paid pirates to sink them."
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