 The crisis was precipitated by the near insolvency of Barings Bank in London.Barings, led by Edward Baring, 1st Baron Revelstoke, faced bankruptcy in November 1890 due mainly to excessive risk-taking on poor investments in Argentina.Argentina itself suffered severely in the recession of 1890 with its real GDP falling by 11 percent between 1890 and 1891, An international consortium assembled by William Lidderdale, governor of the Bank of England, including Rothschilds and most of the other major London banks, created a fund to guarantee Barings' debts, thereby averting a larger depression.