In the last episode of La Casa de Papel, the Professor unveils his plan to negotiate with the army for the release of the robbers, who are being held hostage. But is it realistic? We put the question to a financial expert.
Please note that this article spoils the last episode of La Casa de Papel.
“How will you get out while keeping your freedom?”. This is the subject of the finale of La Casa de Papel, which Netflix unveiled a few days ago. The robbers have managed to move the gold out of the Bank of Spain, but they still need to be able to escape while surrounded and held up by the army.
The Professor (Alvaro Morte) obviously planned the blow with a plan in several phases. The first one ? Let the whole world know that Spain no longer owns its gold by unveiling behind-the-scenes videos of the heist. And then, everything is linked. The markets are panicking, the country is on the verge of a financial crisis, the army has no other choice but to negotiate with the criminals …
If all the robbers seem to believe in this plan, Denver (Jaime Lorente) quickly expresses real doubts. Just like us. So, is this idea of bankrupting a country as easily as possible achievable? We asked Amine Alahyani, financial expert:
“The gold reserve of a country is important in the stability of a country because it is a safe haven against inflation and crises. If a country loses its entire gold reserve and especially in the face of the media outcry that this would generate, the markets will react to this negative news.
The loss of investor confidence will cause the markets to fall. Investors, looking for a rather safe and low risk asset, will shy away from the sovereign bond (supposed to be a low risk financial asset) issued by Spain, whose finances and situation are unstable.
The sovereign bond allows the state to finance its infrastructures, … which can pose a problem. This news will cause a crash, sure, but I doubt the European Central Bank will drop a state like Spain.. “
In other words, the Professor was not totally wrong when he explained that the theft of gold would lead to a financial crisis and an explosion in the financial markets. No offense to Denver. (“This is the very nature of the system. It’s designed to react like this“, he explains to her then).
Obviously the Spanish series does not hesitate to push the cursor even further, for the pleasure of the spectacle, by sending back to the Bank of Spain not gold, but brass ingots. A nice state secret which, we hope, does not inspire potential robbers.
