“There is no banking crisis” in Europe, assures the president of the FBF

The president of the French Banking Federation (FBF) Philippe Brassac assured Wednesday that there was no “banking crisisin Europe unlike in the United States. “There is no banking crisis” in Europe, “there are banks that are in difficulty (…) but it is always for their own reasons“, Estimated on BFM Business Philippe Brassac, also managing director of Crédit Agricole. Worries centered late last week on Credit Suisse, one of 30 global banks deemed too big to fail.

After intense negotiations, the first Swiss banking group UBS agreed on Sunday to buy back its struggling rival for a pittance, with significant guarantees from the Swiss government. While he agreed that the American banking system was going through a period of crisis, Philippe Brassac stressed that there was no “possible contagion in particular to the European and French banking system“.

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Soundness of banks strengthened

Since the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the United States on March 10, the banking sector has questioned its solidity and has been particularly heckled on the stock market. “There is no contamination or contagion mechanism in the systembetween American and European banks, insisted Philippe Brassac, marking the difference with the 2008 crisis when complex American financial products, the “subprime», had been disseminated in a number of bank balance sheets.

Philippe Brassac praised European regulations and the Basel 3 standards, which have made it possible to strengthen the solidity of banks, which is compulsory in Europe but which only a handful of American players apply. “Banks have often said “the regulation is too heavy, too important»its defect is that it did not sufficiently apply to a sufficient number of actors, particularly in the United States“, underlined Philippe Brassac.