'Banks losses estimated at $2.2 trillion': IMF

[Naveed Yaseen]

WASHINGTON (January 29 2009): The IMF said Wednesday global banking industry losses may reach 2.2 trillion dollars in the current financial crisis, sharply revising up its previous estimate of 1.4 trillion dollars. The International Monetary Fund said that a deteriorating credit crisis made it to revise its estimate for losses for US-originated credits, largely from the real estate sector, that have hit banks world-wide.

"The worsening credit conditions affecting a broader range of markets have raised our estimate of the potential deterioration in US-originated credit assets held by banks and others from 1.4 trillion dollars ... to 2.2 trillion dollars," an IMF report said. Much of the deterioration occurred in the area of corporate and commercial real estate securities "but degradation is also occurring in the loan books of banks, reflecting the weakening outlook for the economy," the Washington-based institution said in an update of its October global financial stability report.

It said that while banks managed to obtain sufficient capital to offset existing writedowns, it was mainly due to recent massive public sector injections of capital. "Going forward, banks will need even more capital as expected losses continue to mount," the bank warned. Just for the United States and Europe, it estimated a capital shortfall of "at least a half a trillion dollars."

"This implies that for US and European banks taken together such an amount in new capital is necessary just to prevent their capital position from deteriorating further," the report said. In addition, the IMF called for "forceful measures" to clean up banks' balance sheets of troubled assets "to raise the level of confidence in the banking system."

The United States and Europe have launched a series of capital injections into banks to restore investor confidence as their shares crumbled amid financial turmoil triggered by a massive home mortgage meltdown.

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