“Since the financial crisis, European bank assets in the United States have fallen an incredible $540 billion dollars from $1.51 trillion to $973 billion.
The FT reports that a combination of write downs, sales of loans and businesses, bank failures, and higher capital ratio requirements have pushed U.S. assets held by Eurozone banks to their lowest levels since 2005.
The drop is most pronounced in countries that have suffered severe banking crises. Ireland’s banks, for example, have seen their U.S. assets decline from 130 billion in 2008 to just $3.6 billion as of March.”
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To be fair and not trying to overly sugar coat our own complicated situation, this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with the state of the US.
EU banks are experiencing the capital flight for their very lives. They need every cent they can muster, and that means selling anything that can catch a bid.
agreed. but it hurts our fractional reserves, which in turn hurts lending…no?