The initial deterioration in asset quality was sharpest in the US – not surprisingly, since the crisis originated there. Non-performance rates on US banking assets peaked in early 2010 and there has since been a gradual improvement.
The UK experience has been broadly similar except that the peak was higher and came about a year later; but, as in the US, a recovery is now clearly underway. The experience in the euro area has been very different. It was marked by a more gradual initial deterioration but one that is still continuing.