Brussels, 25/02.2003 (Agence Europe) - On Monday the European Central Bank (ECB) worked on Monday to dissipate the concerns faced by EU banks, asserting that the European banking system has greater resilience and that German banks are not facing a crisis. The European banking system is capable of resisting both an economic slowdown and shocks caused by a possible war in Iraq. Writes the ECB in a report on bank stability in the European Union.
European banks continue to have an ability to resist any shock, stated, during a press conference, Edgar Meister, member of the Bundesbank council and President of the ECB's Banking Supervision Committee, who also asserted that there was no banking crisis in Germany.
The statement by Mr Meister is in line with that made on Monday by the German Finance Minister, Hans Eichel, who also denied the existence of a banking crisis in Germany.
The fears of a banking crisis in Germany are fed by the announcement, last week, of serious annual losses by HVB, the second largest banking group in the country, as well as mediocre results announced by the other major German banks.