European default risk is 'manageable'

European banks have reduced their exposure to peripheral European countries' credit and could afford the potential losses linked to a default.

For all the newsprint inches and financial markets havoc that the Greek debt crisis has caused – its real cost is “manageable,” Nomura analysts said, adding a note of rare optimism to Europe's sovereign debt crisis.

A Greek debt restructuring, where investors could face up to a 40% loss in the value of their bonds, would cost European banks €36.4bn, or between 1% and 2% their combined bank capital. The figure that, on paper, hardly justifies the quasi-paralysis of European debt and equity markets, caused by the ongoing European debt woes.

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