Austrian Banks Claim to Continue „Vienna Initiative“

People ♦ Published: January 18, 2012; 17:33 ♦ (Vindobona)

In 2009, international banks agreed on maintaining their lending operations in Eastern Europe. Now, the cooperation should be extended.

Austrian Banks Claim to Continue „Vienna Initiative“ / Picture: © Flickr / St. Petersburg International Economic Forum

Three years ago, at the peak of the financial crisis, banks from Western Europe and the USA agreed to provide further liquidity to the CEE economies in order to avoid a credit crunch. This was the so called “Vienna Initiative”. Banks were also obliged to hold their sovereign bonds of CEE countries and to convert mature bonds into new ones.

Now bank representatives claim to…