SHADOW BANKING TO CAUSE NEW FINANCIAL CRISIS?

Reports from the previous few weeks point to the fact that the global economy is on a course for one more monetary crisis. As a matter of fact the global debt levels have risen above those of 2008, but with one major difference; it is the poorer countries which are currently leading debt creation. EU and the USA are not safe though, they are dancing a perilous waltz near another steep precipice. And the latest World Economic Outlook from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) does not look promising.

While the IMF views the Eurozone as one of the biggest risks to the world’s economy, it has also pointed a slowdown in major less developed countries such as Brazil and Russia.

Despite all this, stock markets are exuberant akin to that faithful orchestra which kept playing on a sinking Titanic. The Dow Jones is hitting record highs this year. A growing concern, however, is that the enlargement of the so-called shadow banking, an unregulated and off-balance sheet activities undertaken by certain monetary establishments. These activities emulate the traditional banking industry, permitting (for example) loans to be created and assets to be listed, however it does not operate under the same strict laws which usually apply to ‘normal’ banking. Shadow banking establishments are usually based mostly in tax havens such as Cayman Islands, Lichtenstein, etc.

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