October 26, 2012

Europe, if banks travel with Draghi, with whom does small European businesses and entrepreneurs travel?

Sir, Ralph Atkins and Mary Watkins “Eurozone banks start long road back to health” October 26 is an example of excessive focusing on the banks, as if the banks could become healthy in an unhealthy economy.

In Europe, strict followers of Basel II, years of discrimination against the access to banks credit by “The Risky”, like the small businesses and entrepreneurs, must have done a lot of damage to the ecosystem of Europe’s economy. To recover might need decades of bank lending not distorted by regulations, and seemingly regulators (just like FT experts) have not even catched up to the fact they were distorting, and much less stopped to do so.

We read banks and financers expressing “with somebody as powerful as Draghi, we’ve travelled a long way”. That is great, but, tell me, with who are the small European businesses and entrepreneurs supposed travelling?