BRUSSELS (Reuters) – French and Belgian banks are not at risk from contagion from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in the United States, the two countries’ finance ministers said at the start of a Eurogroup finance ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday.
“We monitor the situation hour by hour. For now, we have no indication that there is any risk that there is an impact on our our Belgian banks,” Belgian finance minister Vincent Van Peteghem said
“We have a very clear European and Belgium regulatory framework which allows us to know what the situation is and that of course helps us to keep to keep trust in the banking system,” Van Peteghem added.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also stressed he did not see a “specific risk” of contagion for France, adding investors needed to “calm down”.
“There is no link between the different situations, there is no specific concern for the French banks. Of course, we are looking very closely at the situation but when you are looking at the economic model and the financial model of BNP Paribas, Société Générale, and other French banks: it is radically different from the model of the Silicon Valley Bank,” Le Maire said.
(Reporting by Phil Blenkinsop; writing by GV De Clercq; Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Tomasz Janowski)
