eleven going, page-73

Nicksta

You express concern that dargie's comments about euro banks showing pulling back from australian corporate lending represent pure waffle.

I cannot comment on the BBI situation as I am not sufficiently close to it.

However, as a matter of principle, dargie is absolutely correct that this is a huge issue for the australian corporate market at present.

Banks of every nation are pulling back to focus on their domestic client base, and risk managers are suddenly very wary of risks that are thousands of kilometres away from the bank's own head office. This is somewhat exacerbated by the quasi-nationalisation of banks, as dargie suggests.

I had lunch with an extremely senior investment banker just before christmas. The question of how australian corporates would be able to roll their debt in an environment where foreign banks no longer want to touch them is one of the biggest concerns in his mind right now,

As i say - i can't comment at all on BBI. but in relation to the principle, dargie is spot on. You do him a disservice in your comments about his post.