Banking in Europe boomed upon the creation of the euro and the global expansion of credit in the 2000s. In the US, banks were also riding high on strong assets growth and accompanying increases in market capitalisation. Cross-border claims also climbed as banks sought to grab an even bigger share outside their domestic markets.
Things have since changed. Read more
Time for more BIS-timates of international banking activity — this time looking at developments in the deleveraging turn among eurozone lenders in late 2011.
These stats from the Bank for International Settlements go up to the end of December. Predictably they show a massive pullback in credit throughout the banking system with Europe and the eurozone leading the way. Read more
Cross-border lending by banks rose at the start of this year for the first time since the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, in a further sign of recovering confidence in global financial markets, reports the FT. Global banks boosted lending outside their national borders by $700bn, or 2.1%, to $33,400bn in the first quarter of 2010, according to the Bank for International Settlements. A sharp drop in foreign lending amid market turmoil in late 2008 led to worries about a reversal in financial globalisation as banks cut international lending to focus on their domestic markets. Read more
1Bernanke weighs in on robot wars; brings Keynes for backup
2Secret liquidity and Scottish independence
3Spain's awful unemployment
4About China's capacity to absorb more capital
5Pump up, debase
Show more6S&P 2,100, by Goldman Sachs
7Buyback to enrich
8Everlasting credit, the long view
9Collateral crunch-counting gets sophisticated
10Apple Operations International, facts (?) du jour
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