Echoes of 2008 Here we go again The Europeans are pushing the global banking system to the edge Oct 8th 2011 | from the print edition YOU know something bad is going to happen in a horror film when someone decides to take a late-night stroll in a forest. The equivalent in finance is a bank boss insisting that his institution is completely solid.European bankers have been saying things are fine for weeks now, even as their exposure to indebted euro-zone countries strangles their access to funding. The amount of money parked at the European Central Bank ECB has risen to 15-month highs as banks hold back from lending to each other. Fears of contagion from Europe have now infected America see article. Banks there led the S&P500 into official bear-market territory this week, as the index briefly dipped more than 20% below a high set in April. The chief executive of one embattled institution, Morgan Stanley, sent a memo to employees reassuring them that the bank’s balance-sheet was dramatically stronger than it was in 2008, when Lehman Brothers collapsed.
