IEUR - Can The EU Survive The Next Financial Crisis?
By Alasdair Macleod
Despite the ECB's subsidy of the Eurozone's banking system, it remains in a sleepwalking state similar to the non-financial, non-crony-capitalist zombified economy. Gone are the heady days of investment banking. There is now a legacy of derivatives and regulators' fines. Technology has made the over-extended branch network, typical of a European retail bank, a costly white elephant. The market for emptying bank buildings in the towns and villages throughout Europe must be dire, a source of under-provisioned losses. On top of this, the ECB's interest rate policy has led to lending