Of course, the “banker” here is not limited to the bank as it literally means, and it also includes venture capitalists. The banker plays two roles in this process. First, the banker screens prospective entrepreneurs and selects the most promising ones. This is often called the “expert eye” function of bankers.
And credit growth was falling further, leading to rising unemployment and reduced consumption and investment. The outlook for the euro area economy as a whole was increasingly fragile. There were potentially negative consequences for Europe’s single market, as access to finance was increasingly influenced by location rather than creditworthiness and the quality of the project.