Euro crisis could see banks sell off trillions in assets
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Tokyo - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned Wednesday that European banks might have to sell 2.8 trillion dollars of assets unless eurozone policy makers resolve the sovereign debt crisis.
The amount could go as high as 4.5 trillion dollars if the crisis intensifies, the IMF said.
"We find that delays in resolving the crisis have increased the expected amount of asset shrinkage at banks," the international lender wrote in its twice-annual Global Financial Stability Report.
The IMF said in its previous report in April that eurozone policymakers need to build on improvements and avoid fresh setbacks in their sovereign debt crisis, but the October report urged "more speed is needed now."
Capital is moving from troubled eurozone countries, such as Spain and Italy, to more economically stable ones or out of the euro area altogether, the IMF said.//DPA
