Co-op Bank and Greek debt
Recently romours have been flying around regarding the exposure of the Co-op Bank to Greek debt.
The following is the press release that the bank issued on the 27th July 2011The Co-operative Bank's Eurozone debt exposure
The Co-operative Bank was not asked to participate in the European Banking Association (EBA) Stress Test exercise that was published on 15th July 2011. In line with the Financial Policy Committee recommendation for disclosure this release provides figures for The Co-operative Bank as at 31 December 2010. The disclosures are broadly based on principles outlined by the EBA.
As part of the Co-operative Group, which is owned and run for the benefit of its members, The Co-operative Bank remains a low-risk UK-based operation with strong mutual principles.
The Co-operative Bank had no sovereign exposure to ‘peripheral’ euro area countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain).
The Co-operative Bank had a €3m exposure to the Kingdom of Sweden but held no other Euro area sovereign debt.
The Co-operative Bank exposure to Financial Institutions was:
| Austria | €46m |
| Belgium | €217m, €114m of which had a maturity within 30 days and €50m within 1 year |
| Denmark | €6m which had a maturity within 1 year |
| Finland | €29m which had a maturity within 1 year |
| France | €943m, of which €425m had a maturity within 30 days and €331m within 1 year |
| Greece | zero exposure |
| Germany | €460m of which €277m had a maturity within 30 days |
| Iceland | zero exposure |
| Ireland | €153m, of which €103m had a maturity within 1 year |
| Italy | €478m, of which €303m had a maturity within 30 days and €175m within 1 year |
| Luxembourg | zero exposure |
| Netherlands | €12m which had a maturity within 30 days |
| Norway | zero exposure |
| Portugal | €40m |
| Spain | €562m, €263m of which had a maturity within 30 days and €106m within 1 year |
| Sweden | zero exposure |
Eurozone counterparty and country limits have been managed down over the last 24 months. The majority of the underlying exposure to higher risk Eurozone counterparties comprised money market lending and short dated bonds that were in run-off.
Overseas EEA Corporate customer exposure (as defined by the EBA) totalled €208m. There are no exposures to Retail customers based outside of the UK.
Ends
Frankly we do not hve the expertise to judge these figures but we have asked around contacts and they do not seem worried.
