The chief executive of one of Germany's largest state-backed banks warned that foreigners were increasingly loath to extend credit to financial institutions in Europe's largest economy, which could spark a crisis.
"We sense reluctance on the part of foreign partners to extend credit to German banks," WestLB CEO Alexander Stuhlmann told journalists on the sidelines of a bank event, according to wire service reports.
"If we have a banking crisis in Germany with other countries cutting us off, then other banks will also face difficulties."
His comments come days after a German lender, SachsenLB, said it required a credit line of 17.3 billion euros ($23.2 billion) because of the investments it had made in securities affected by the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis. IKB Deutsche Industriebank (DE:806330: news, chart, profile) required a similar bailout.
When insiders start to make these type of predictions, you know there is trouble underneath.
