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LONDON, March 19 (Reuters) – At least two major banks in Europe are examining scenarios of contagion in the region's banking sector and are looking to the Federal Reserve and the ECB for stronger signals of support, two senior executives close to the discussions told Reuters.
The fallout from the crisis of confidence in Credit Suisse Group AG and the failure of two U.S. banks could ripple through the financial system next week, the two executives separately told Reuters on Sunday.
The two banks have held their own internal deliberations on how soon the European Central Bank should weigh in to highlight banks' resilience, specifically their capital and liquidity positions, the people said.
A focus of these internal discussions is whether such statements might create even more alarm if they are made too soon, the people said.
The executives said their banks and the sector are well capitalised and their liquidity is strong, but they fear the crisis of confidence will sweep up more lenders.
One of the executives said the Federal Reserve might have to move first as the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank in the United States earlier this month triggered the concerns in Europe.
A third executive at another major European bank separately told Reuters they thought the ECB would be reluctant to make a public statement before markets reopen, questioning whether they would judge it necessary at this time and adding that the main focus was still on talks in Switzerland. The ECB declined to comment. The Fed had no comment.
A further selloff in banks could erode confidence depositors have in their lenders. Since the U.S. banks' collapse, savers have been moving funds to bigger lenders in a flight to safety that undermines the sector's ability to lend.
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said on Sunday the banking crisis in the United States was going to expedite overall credit tightening and slow the U.S. economy.
In Europe, companies still rely mostly on bank loans to fund their growth, meaning the real economy is more sensitive to banks.
The ECB on Thursday stuck with plans for a half-point rate rise to contain inflation. But it stressed it was monitoring market tensions and would respond as necessary to preserve price stability and financial stability in the currency bloc.
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