Gold Magazine March - April 2013, Issue 24 | Seite 89

banking

EUROPEAN BANKS

expected to trade €60 billion
in non-core loans in 2013

N

{MONEY}

UNWANTED
LOAN
PORTFOLIOS
TOTAL MORE
THAN €2.5
TRILLION ACROSS
EUROPE

on-core loan
portfolios with
a face value of
at least €60 billion are expected to
Stelios Constantinou
be traded by European banks in 2013,
as they step up their deleveraging activity, according to predictions from PwC.
This compares to around €45 billion of
such deals in 2012 and the €36 billion
recorded in 2011.
To date a large amount of loan portfolio
transactions have involved real estatebacked lending. In future, PwC expects an
increased focus on corporate and leveraged
lending, together with loans with a longer
maturity profile.
However, the banks have some way to
go at their current rate of disposal as PwC
estimates that unwanted loan portfolios toBY STEPHEN VALDEZ AND PHILIP MOLYNEUX
tal more than €2.5 trillion across Europe.
(PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2012)
Analysis by PwC’s European portfolio
RRP: £29.99 (£28.49 FROM AMAZON.CO.UK)
advisory group shows there has been an
uptick of activity in the UK and Spain
rguably the best introduction to the
and considerable potential for deals still to
study of world financial markets,
be done across the eurozone as a whole. It
this book has long been essential
expects this momentum of high value and
reading for anyone studying how
volume of transactions to continue for the
global financial markets work and looking
next few years.
for insights as to how they may work in the
future. Given the importance of the financial
Stelios Constantinou, Partner in charge
system in the midst of the ongoing worldwide
of the banking industry at PwC Cyprus
financial crisis, this new 7th edition of Valdez
said: “In 2012 we saw a large number of
and Molyneux’s classic text could not have
different banks bringing their portfolios to
come at a better time. The authors cover
market, trying to capitalise on first-mover
virtually everything, including money and
advantage and recognising that basic laws
bond markets, stock exchanges, hedge
of supply and demand mean that the
funds, commercial banking, investment
higher the deal volumes in future, the lower
banking, central banking, and derivatives.
Furthermore, the financial crisis, regulatory
the price. This issue of price will cl V&ǐ