In Germany, HSH Nordbank â 59pc owned by the city of Hamburg and state of Schleswig-Holstein â rattled the markets yesterday by revealing that it would need â¬30bn in guarantees from Berlin's â¬500bn stabilisation fund. It warned that further sums may be need`ed to meet capital adequacy ratios in the future.
"We are not under time pressure and will be holding in-depth discussions with our stockholders as to the strategy to pursue,'' said Hans Berger, chief executive officer. The bank has had to write down â¬2.3bn over the last year, and suffered heavy losses from the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Commerzbank said it would seek a combined guarantee and capital boost of â¬23bn, while BayernLB will seek â¬5.4bn. The giant property lender Hypo Real Estate is the biggest casualty so far, needing â¬50bn.
In Austria, a mini-crisis continued to simmer yesterday as the state stepped in "with a few hundred million" to rescue Kommunalkredit, after the public lender said it was suffering a "liqudity squeeze". Austria's banks have heavy exposure to the debt crisis in Ukraine, Hungary and the Balkans.
Europe's banks are almost twice as leveraged as those in the US, according to the IMF. Many pursued a very aggressive lending strategy during the credit bubble. They account for the lion's share of cross-border loans to Latin America, Asia and the entire $1.6 trillion pool of loans to Eastern Europe. Matt King, credit strategist at Citigroup, says they have waited too long to face up to their losses and will need to raise $400bn in fresh capital in a hostile global climate.