The crisis, far from abating, may actually be mutating into an even more intractable form. For global economic recovery, we may well be in for the long haul. We shall have to take preemptive measures wherever we can to ensure that we minimise any negative fallout.
Large universal banks are facing increasing balance-sheet pressure, under the double impact of past bad debts, including sovereigns, and the prospect of higher capital-adequacy and liquidity rules coming under Basel III. Several, like UBS, ABN/AMRO, Credit Suisse, Barclays, HSBC, and others have started laying off large numbers of staff.