Bank loans in a crisis atmosphere - International Finance

Bank loans in crisis atmosphere

Debt crisis eventually "pulled" for themselves and the banks of Italy, which are heavily indebted to commercial banks in Greece. As a result, Italian banks in turn had to seek loans. In December 2011, under a new ECB program, three-year loans (50 billion euros) Unicredit attracted 12.5 billion euros, Ibtesa Sanpaolo - 12 billion euros, Monte dei Paschi di Siena - 10 billion euros. This program began to operate after in November 2011 the ECB was headed by Mario Draghi, who announced the ECB's move to more active lending. The case, however, was not limited to the banks of Italy. Another problem was that the banks of the peripheral countries of the eurozone could not attract the necessary financing in the European capital markets. M. Dragi decided to change this situation, and as a result, more than 500 euro-zone banks took from the ECB in December 2011 489 billion euros of loan loans, and in the first half of 2012 - more than 300 billion euros (more than 200 banks). Italian banks, whose share was the largest, thanks to the new ECB program, received 90% of the required funding for 2012. Royal Bank of Scotland through the Dutch "daughter" received 5 billion euros - a quarter of the funds needed for a year. According to Morgan Stanley, Spanish banks attracted almost 25 billion euros, or a third of the required funds. However, they already in June 2012 again needed emergency assistance, which was promised to the Spanish government by the EU and the IMB (100 billion euros).

Another important problem for eurozone banks is recapitalization, which the European Banking Administration (EBA) insists on. Commerzbank (second in terms of assets in Germany) and Monte dei Paschi di Siena (the third in Italy) may have to apply again for financing to investors or taxpayers, as they also began to need liquidity. The Spanish Bankia really threatens to merge with a stronger competitor due to the difficulties encountered. A total of 31 largest European banks should raise 115 billion euros to pay off their debts (in 2012). In July 2012, EVA requested that Commerzbank increase capital by 5.3 billion euros to increase the "leverage". Monte dei Paschi di Siena needed 3.3 billion euros for the same purpose, but its largest shareholder, the Tuscan charitable foundation, was unable to buy new shares because of debts (after participating in the July (2012) issue of the bank, when it raised an additional 2.2 billion euros). The difficulties of Bankia are due to investments in the Spanish real estate sector of 39 billion euros ( (Bankia - the result of the recent merger of seven small savings banks in Italy).

All these facts underscore the uncertainty that prevails in the European financial markets. In addition, additional problems arise as a result of the activity of rating agencies. Starting in 2010, they seriously "dropped" credit capacity of Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Slovakia, France, Germany, Austria, as well as banks of these countries. Belgium was warned Fitch about the doubtfulness of its creditworthiness after the large French-Belgian bank Dexia, staggered and the Belgian authorities hurriedly gave him a state loan; this may result in a downgrade of Belgium itself.

Currently, the most urgent concern of the EU is how to recapitalize European banks. For example, Ireland believed that for this it needs 100 billion euros (135 billion dollars), but the IMF estimated the country's need for 200 billion euros. Spain, Portugal, Hungary and a number of other countries require more and more credit resources from the EU and the IMF. Where can I get this money? - this is the main question. President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, until his departure, insisted on using the cash register of the newly created European Stabilization Fund. The new president of France, Holland. But German Chancellor Angela Merkel strongly opposed. Her motives are very clear: in the Stabilization Fund's box office only 440 billion euros and it was created mainly to save the states. At the same time, a significant part of its capital was contributed by Germany, and the leaders of this country do not want to incur the excessive burden of saving the banks of other countries. Therefore, it was necessary to increase the assets of the fund to 900 billion euros and create another institution for the European stabilization of finance. At the same time, French banks have a lot of securities of neighboring countries: Greece, Italy, Spain, etc., and they need significant financial assistance. As a result, the entire EU banking system, which is the basic design of the Union's monetary system, faces a serious threat.

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