European Union countries pledged €3.63 trillion in guarantees and rescue schemes since last year to help banks hit by the credit crisis, the European Commission said today.
Since the financial crisis deepened in September last year, governments across the 27-country region have bailed out lenders such as Lloyds, Royal Bank of Scotland, Commerzbank, ING and KBC.
The €3.63 trillion were committed by EU governments from 2008 to November 11th this year, the Commission said in its summary of state aid handed out since last year.
The Commission, tasked with ensuring state aid does not give companies an unfair advantage, did not provide details on the size of the aid actually taken up by banks.
Its data showed that lenders took up just €212.2 billion in 2008 from the €3.36 trillion euros promised by EU countries in that year, with the amount paid out equal to 1.7 per cent of the gross domestic product in the EU.
"The conditions imposed by the Commission, for example on guarantees, led to banks being cautious in taking up the aid," a Commission official told reporters. EU leaders are expected to say this week that withdrawal of support for the banking sector should start by rolling back government guarantees for bank borrowing but they will not set a deadline for this process, according to a draft document obtained by Reuters.
Reuters