July 31, 2014

There´s no bank lending to non-financial corporates as it requires the most of what is most scarce in Europe, bank capital.

Sir, Sarah Gordon writes that in Europe “bank lending to non-financial corporates has, almost unbelievably, been contracting for the past five years”, “Easy credit conditions are benefiting only the few” July 31.

What is unbelievable with that? As I have explained in hundreds of letter to you and your reporters for about soon a decade, bank lending to non-financial corporate requires, because of the risk-weighted capital requirements, the most of what is most scarce in Europe, namely bank capital… and so of course there is no lending. It is as easy as that!

And that is why liquidity does not reach where it is most needed. And the real problem is that some, like Mario Draghi, do not want to recognize how stupid these bank regulations are.