Brussels, 04/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 4 November, the European Central Bank (ECB) published a report on changes in the bank sector in the eurozone since 2008, the year when the global financial crisis broke out.
The report shows that total bank assets stood at €29,500 trillion, a fall of nearly 12% between 2008 and the end of 2012. At the end of 2012, Germany and France were the biggest bank markets, with banks in these two countries, the biggest economies of the eurozone, managing €7,600 trillion (25.8%) and €6,800 trillion (23%) respectively.
Between 2008 and the end of 2012, the number of banks fell by 10% from 2,909 to 2,645. In parallel, the number of bank branches fell by 16,200 to 171,477.
The financial crisis has encouraged banks to deleverage, and the report notes a fall in the share of lending in the total assets of banks in most eurozone countries. In order to boost solvency, banks increased the median Tier 1 capital from 8% in 2008 to 12.7% in 2012.
The report compares banks in the eurozone with banks in the United States. Although there are a similar number of banks on either side of the Atlantic, the size of the US banking sector is far smaller than in the eurozone, notes the ECB report, explaining that, in the United States, various state operators and non-bank operators act as financial intermediaries and there are different accounting requirements. When it comes to consolidating bank balance sheets, banks in the eurozone are slightly behind their US counterparts, explains the report.
The ECB will start directly supervising 130 big eurozone banks in November 2013 and has decided to publish an annual report on banking in the eurozone, which will provide important foundations for the work of the ECB as bank supervisor, explained the banks' vice-president, Vitor Costancio, in a press release. (MB/transl.fl)