As credit risk is an important element in the unsecured markets, but not so in the secured markets, this may lead us to conclude that the increase in differences in credit risk across institutions, rather than increased segmentation, is the likely explanation for the observed small but noticeable increase in the cross-country standard deviation in interbank lending rates.
Of course, we continue to monitor the evolution of these and other indicators very closely in the coming months in order to obtain more information on the possible effects of the turmoil on the money markets as well as on other financial markets. I already mentioned that retail banking markets continue to be less integrated than other banking market segments.