Swiss bank head: Reality striking back
TEXT OF STORY
Doug Krizner: The head of the Swiss Central Bank is saying the crisis in financial markets is far from over. In interviews over the weekend, a warning of further massive losses from U.S. subprime mortgages. From London, Stephen Beard reports.
Stephen Beard: The head of the Swiss national bank, Jean-Pierre Roth, is scathing about U.S. subprime lending .
“Something unbelievable happened,” he says. “People who had neither income nor capital got credit with very attractive conditions. Now reality is striking back.”
Roth predicted further market turmoil. Neil MacKinnon of the ECU currency fund management group agrees. He says even though central banks are pumping money into the system, credit is getting harder to come by all the time:
Neil MacKinnon: There’s been a tightening of lending criteria generally which will make it much more difficult for companies, for individuals, to obtain credit over the short to medium term.
During the weekend it emerged that a second large German bank, the Sachsen Landesbank, had been bailed out after losing billions on its subprime investments.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
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