OUTGOING Commonwealth Bank chief executive Ralph Norris has warned that the European debt crisis has entered a dangerous phase, likening the current turmoil to the global financial crisis of three years ago.

Mr Norris said global money markets ''effectively froze'' this week as Germany failed to sell the entire stock of €6 billion ($8.2 billion) worth of long-term bonds.

His comments came as the leaders of the euro zone's key economies, France and Germany, met in France overnight to resolve differences over how to handle Europe's debt crisis.
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But Mr Norris, who retires next Wednesday after more than six years in the role, cautioned that credit-crunch conditions were returning, which is threatening to choke off funding for banks around the world.

''This has potential to be significantly worse than the Lehman Brothers collapse and the subprime crisis because now we are talking about nation states,'' Mr Norris told BusinessDay.

''If you have a situation like you had today, where markets had effectively frozen, then it doesn't matter how good your name is, you are not going to be able to access markets,'' Mr Norris said. ''As of today, no banks could access these markets.''

Read more: www.smh.com.au...

Originally posted by Kryties

His comments came as the leaders of the euro zone's key economies, France and Germany, met in France overnight to resolve differences over how to handle Europe's debt crisis.
Advertisement: Story continues below

But Mr Norris, who retires next Wednesday after more than six years in the role, cautioned that credit-crunch conditions were returning, which is threatening to choke off funding for banks around the world.

''This has potential to be significantly worse than the Lehman Brothers collapse and the subprime crisis because now we are talking about nation states,'' Mr Norris told BusinessDay.

''If you have a situation like you had today, where markets had effectively frozen, then it doesn't matter how good your name is, you are not going to be able to access markets,'' Mr Norris said. ''As of today, no banks could access these markets.''

Read more: www.smh.com.au...

For anyone confused as to what the Commonwealth Bank is, it is one of Australia's "Big 4" banks.

Although he is telling us what we here at ATS have known for some time, it is still scary and an indication of the seriousness of this situation that this message should come from the Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Bank. If this doesn't serve to wake those up who still believe everything is rosy, I don't know what will.


www.smh.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Originally posted by OneManArmy
I would like to add this article to the thread....

www.moneynews.com...

In the Aftershock Survival Summit, Wiedemer reveals what the publisher didn’t want you to see. Citing the unthinkable, he provides disturbing evidence and financial charts forecasting 50% unemployment, a 90% stock market collapse, and 100% annual inflation.

"We're fast coming to a point where parties who have to come up with a solution have to hurry up and do it," Reserve Bank of Australia governor Glenn Stevens said on Thursday.