Euro Must Stay to Prevent European Banking-System Collapse, Evolution Says
By Charles Penty - Nov 25, 2010 11:31 AM GMT+0100
Evolution's Arturo de Frias said the damage caused by the abandonment of the euro would be such that such an outcome is impossible and the “only way forward” for Europe is fiscal union. Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
http://www.bloomberg.com/video/64773286/
Nov. 24 (Bloomberg) -- European Central Bank Governing Council member Gertrude Tumpell-Gugerell, Julian Callow, chief European economist at Barclays Capital, and Deanne Julius, chairman of Chatham House, talk about the future of the euro. This report also includes comments from Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme, Schroders Plc Chief Economist Keith Wade, General Electric Co. International Chief Executive Officer Ferdinando Beccalli-Falco and Cisco Systems Inc. European President Chris Dedicoat. These are highlights from the Bloomberg Businessweek European Leadership Forum in London on Nov. 23. (Source: Bloomberg)
The European banking system would be “nearly bust” if the euro were to be abandoned which means the 16-member currency “cannot and should not go,” Evolution Securities Ltd. said.
“If the euro is abandoned, and we go back to the peseta, lira, escudo, drachma etc., devaluations would follow immediately,” said
Arturo de Frias, head of bank research at Evolution in a note to investors today, adding the industry is a “great buying opportunity.” Devaluations mean write-offs “of a size that would render the whole European banking system completely insolvent.”
Contagion from Europe’s sovereign debt crisis is spreading to Spain, sparking concern that the European rescue fund set up in May isn’t large enough. French, German and U.K. banks could lose 360 billion euros ($479 billion) if the euro collapsed, assuming a 30 percent devaluation in the wake of the restoration of national currencies, said de Frias.
The damage caused by the abandonment of the euro would be such that such an outcome is impossible and the “only way forward” for Europe is fiscal union, he said.
“It is simply too late,” he wrote. “There are too many cross-border investments in Europe to go back to national currencies.”
If Spain, Italy, Greece, Portugal and Ireland devalue by 30 percent on the way to readopting national currencies, total losses for German banks alone would be 120 billion euros, said de Frias. That’s almost half the total equity of German lenders, he said.
Banks Undervalued
In such a scenario, losses at U.K. banks would reach 80 billion euros, equivalent to nearly half the equity of
Barclays Plc, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and Lloyds Banking Group Plc., he said.
“And this is only the banks. What would happen with the investments of the large European multinationals” like
Siemens AG, Tesco Plc and others. “More multi-billion losses, and future profits lost.”
Once it’s clear that the euro will survive, “it will become clear that some of our banks are 50 percent, 70 percent or 80 percent” undervalued, he wrote.
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