The financial panic and banking crisis of 1890, often intertwined with the Baring crisis, was a severe international economic shock triggered by the near-collapse of Barings Bank, one of the oldest and most prestigious merchant banking houses in London. The crisis was precipitated when Barings heavily overextended its financial commitments through speculative underwriting of Argentine and Uruguayan government securities and infrastructure bonds that plummeted in market value. As rumors of insolvency spread through global financial markets, investors panicked, prompting massive runs on international deposits and threatening a complete systemic contagion across European and American banking networks. Emergency intervention led by the Bank of England, which organized a massive rescue consortium and guaranteed liabilities, successfully prevented a total global financial meltdown.