Fisher Capital Management World News: IMF issues warning to European banks

The International Monetary Fund has called on European banks to boost their capital reserves, in order to protect them against fluctuations in the financial system, which could precipitate another financial crisis.

The IMF described vulnerable European banks as being “caught in a maelstrom of interlinked pressures”, although it did say that global financial stability was returning to the world economy.

Of particular concern were major banks in Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The results were published as part of the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Report, which further added that countries saddled with sovereign debt problems, as well as vulnerable banks, were in significant danger of instability.

These countries include Portugal and Spain, which are both facing difficult debt crises.

According to the report, the world’s banks face a US $3.6 trillion “wall” of debt, which will mature in the next two years.

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