BIS Review 71/1997  -2-  The broader environment also has fewer worrying features than in the 1980s: -  -  aggregate bank credit is expanding much less rapidly than then (although inflation rates are also down quite a bit); the financial position of business borrowers is generally quite healthy with debt to equity ratios lower, and interest coverage higher, than in the late 1980s; and while asset prices are rising, there is no sign of the bubbles we saw in the 1980s; commercial property prices are up only modestly from their low points of 1993.
We also have the general impression that banks have a better handle on their credit risks than they did ten years ago. With more centralised credit management, banks can now aggregate exposures to clients and industries, a basic capability which was sadly lacking then. Some of the bigger banks have specialised units to monitor their property exposures.