How are global banks leveraged? Jean-Pierre Chevallier made a nice list of 39 global banks and ranked them according to their level of leverage, as he calculated it.
European banks clearly have a higher level of leverage than their American counterparts for example. French banks are high in the list, but other banks from the old continent also have a high presence.
This is how it looks like on the graph, where the line is on the 10:1 leverage:
The full table with all 39 banks is on Chevallier’s website here. It includes each bank’s capital and other interesting figures. Is your bank high on the list?
Bank recapitalization is now high on the agenda of the European leaders, that face sovereign debt leading to banking debt in a vicious cycle. Hopes for a quick resolution to these problems has helped push the euro up in the past week or so, but if the leaders don’t deliver on October 23rd (the summit), it means trouble for the euro.
For more on the common currency, see the EUR/USD forecast.
