Will there be a real ECB audit of European banks, or just another nail in the coffin of a lost generation?

Sir you write: “By some accounts [the ECB audit] is expected to reveal that eurozone banks need between €50bn and €100bn”, “ECB needs help on its big bank audit” November 4.

No! That would be what European banks might need if they are just to survive, treading water, refinancing some of Europe’s at least for the time safer sovereigns. But, if banks are going to help to put Europe’s future on their books, like loans to medium and small businesses, entrepreneurs and start ups, then they need new regulations, and many times that amount of capital.

Frankly any ECB audit that does not also include understanding and calculating what also needs to be on European bank balances, will just amount to another nail in the coffin of a generation of young Europeans, lost by an insane and extremely risky regulatory risk aversion

And Sir, FT, for whatever reasons, withholding the truth, shares the responsibility for that tragedy.