Problems, problems
ON MARCH 29th Crédit Lyonnais, France's controversial state-owned bank, is due to unveil its results for 1992. They will be terrible. Jean-Yves Haberer, the bank's chairman, has already said that its performance will probably be the worst for 20 years. If, as some analysts expect, the bank announces a big loss, it will be due in part to problems at Crédit Lyonnais Bank Nederland (CLBN). The bank's Dutch subsidiary is caught up not only in the difficulties of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), a Hollywood film studio that it now owns, but also in the collapse of SASEA Holding, a Swiss company which went bust last October. Crédit Lyonnais's exposure to SASEA is at least SFr570m ($377m).
More from Finance & economics
China meets its official growth target. Not everyone is convinced
For one thing, 2024 saw the second-weakest rise in nominal GDP since the 1970s
Ethiopia gets a stockmarket. Now it just needs some firms to list
The country is no longer the most populous without a bourse
Are big cities overrated?
New economic research suggests so
Why catastrophe bonds are failing to cover disaster damage
The innovative form of insurance is reaching its limits
“The Traitors”, a reality TV show, offers a useful economics lesson
It is a finite, sequential, incomplete information game
Will Donald Trump unleash Wall Street?
Bankers have plenty of reason to be hopeful