Banks remain resilient.
Gregoire Mivelaz, interviewed by GAM, 06/04/2020
If the global financial crisis (GFC) of 2008 was a stormy period for the economy, then Covid-19 has been a full scale hurricane. The GFC first hit the American housing market and went on to have a dramatically negative effect on every major bank in the industry. The global economic contraction that ensued was followed by a gradual recovery from 2009 onwards. Banks, as a result of this, were compelled to enter a new stage of rebuilding their balance sheets, reflecting improved and more stringent regulatory oversight, which was designed to prepare them for a future crisis. With several of the world’s largest economies on lockdown and entire industries facing sharp declines, that crisis has clearly arrived.