Banks urge U.K. corporate clients to stop borrowing

From Dow Jones Newswires
via CNNMoney.com
Monday, December 3, 2007

http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200712021916DOWJONES...

Banks have asked top U.K. corporate clients not to draw on lending facilities to which they are entitled in order to preserve their balance sheets as they approach the financial year end.

The banks are urging some of their biggest clients not to draw on standby credit facilities as the sub-prime crisis and squeeze on interbank lending have affected banks' ability to fund themselves.

The problems started with the closure of the commercial paper market as a means of cheap funding for companies in the summer. Banks have to provide standby financing of up to 100 percent to backstop commercial paper programs. With banks struggling for their sources of financing through the interbank market, the drawdowns are having a direct effect on their balance sheets.

Several bankers have said Citigroup is one of those most affected and that the bank was asking some clients not to use standby facilities, which are part of the normal relationship banking arrangements made between banks and companies.

A Citigroup spokesman said: "Citigroup honors its commitments to its clients but, as part of our normal business, we discuss with clients the potential use of our balance sheet. This is standard industry practice."

Simon Allocca, head of non-French corporate origination at BNP Paribas, said: "By the end of the summer, the principal problem facing banks was not U.S. sub-prime or collateralized debt obligation exposure but the drawing down of standby loans and bilaterals. In some cases banks are seeking to avoid further balance sheet capital pressure by asking clients not to use their standby facilities."

Standby financing is typically for 364 days and when undrawn has a zero risk weighting. When it is drawn, the risk weighting goes to 100 percent. This makes the sums involved significant. If a company is unable to tap the markets for commercial paper to the tune of, say, L4 billion (E5.6 billion), banks may have to provide that amount in standby financing.

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