US and European banks are on track to book more than $50bn of charges on souring loans in the first quarter, the biggest such provisions since the 2008-09 financial crisis, and an indication of the severe economic damage wrought by coronavirus.
The headline numbers mask dramatically different approaches across the industry, raising questions about how rigorous some banks are being in assessing possible future losses.
Among the biggest institutions, US banks have been the most cautious — boosting their reserves for potential bad loans by 350 per cent from the first quarter last year to $25bn — while European lenders have increased provisions by 269 per cent to about €16bn.
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