European banks are preparing for the worst

Jan 20 (IFR) – European banks are preparing for a potential worsening of the region’s sovereign and banking crisis, with many firms stockpiling cash and cutting back on loans to new clients as they seek to protect themselves against a possible seizing-up of financial markets.

Faced with 650 billion euros of debt coming due this year – almost 40 percent of which matures before the end of March – lenders are choosing to build up a cash cushion to ensure they can cover redemptions, creating a squeeze on the wider economy in the process.

Such hoarding illustrates the nervousness of lenders even after the European Central Bank injected 489 billion euros of cash into the banking system in December. Cash deposits at the ECB have ballooned since then, reaching a record 528 billion euros this week – higher than after the Lehman Brothers collapse.

“The big concern is that things might get worse,” said Bernd Hartwig, treasury manager at Nord/LB. “Political decisions are taking too long and most banks are building up liquidity just in case something happens. They are very worried that a new crisis could be a bigger than 2008.”

System-wide hoarding is the reverse of what happened the last time central banks injected hundreds of billions of long-term money into the system. Then, banks moved quickly to put the money to work and generate returns, sparking bond and equity market rallies – and economic growth.

The US Federal Reserve almost trebled the size of its balance sheet to more than $2 trillion in the months after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, pumping cash into the banking system through programs such as the Term Auction Facility. The ECB grew its balance sheet by about a quarter in that time.