Eight European banks strike lending deal: Credit Agricole

0 Comments | AFP, October, 2008

PARIS (AFP) — Eight European mutual banks have struck a deal to lend to each other up to a total 15 billion euros to boost confidence in the financial sector, France's biggest bank Credit Agricole said on Thursday.

It and the other seven banks of the so-called Unico grouping agreed "to mutually lend money to one another and re-open lines of unguaranteed bank credit" with loans up to three months, Credit Agricole said in a statement.

The credit lines will be worth 10 billion to 15 billion euros in total, the statement said, after the banks "took the decision to reintegrate the European interbank finance market."

The eight banks account for a fifth of the retail banking sector in Europe, with 110 million customers at more than 40,000 branches.

The...