A look at the banks’ aggregated balance sheet shows a decrease of 58,4 billion euros, a decrease of 8% compared to 2001 and contrasting with a continuous growth over the past twenty years.
Even employment, typically a lagged indicator, decreased by close to 600 units in 2002, or 2% in relative terms, and the total number of employees stands at 23 300 at the end of December 2002.