EU executive sees no pan-EU fallout from IKB

BRUSSELS, Aug 3 (Reuters) - The European Commission is monitoring closely the multi-billion euro rescue of Germany's IKB bank but sees no pan-European implications from the problem, the European Union's executive said today.

Officials working for Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, the bloc's top financial regulator, and for Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia, are studying the situation at IKB, a Commission spokesman said.

''We see no particular reason at this moment in time to be worried. We see no pan-European implications. The matter has been dealt with by the competent authorities,'' he said.

Banks funding the rescue of Germany's IKB expect it to lose up to a fifth of its roughly 17.5 billion-euro investment in US subprime mortgages, a source familiar with the plan told Reuters yesterday.

To stop IKB unravelling, German banks clubbed together to provide 3.5 billion euros to cover the lender's potential losses from the subprime crisis.

Jean-Claude Juncker, chairman of the euro area's group of finance ministers, said there were no major concerns over IKB.

''I don't think that what is under way in the United States and what is affecting to a small extent some banks in the euro area is of a nature that we should be too much concerned,'' Juncker told Reuters in an interview.

Regulators outside Germany signalled they have yet to play any role in the bailout.

''It's a German issue and not in our bailiwick,'' a spokesman for the Financial Services Authority in Britain, the EU's biggest financial centre, said.

The European Central Bank said it was a national issue, and the Committee of European Banking Supervisors, which groups national banking watchdogs in the EU, was not able to comment.

There would need to be a systemic risk to the wider European market to trigger cross-border cooperation and information sharing among supervisors.

CREDIT TIGHTENING ''Recent financial turbulences reflect a reassessment of credit risk premiums triggered by spreading worries about US subprime market developments,'' the Commission said.

The turbulence could foster some tightening of credit conditions in EU markets, the Commission said.

''However, macroeconomic conditions in the EU remain broadly favourable and robust global growth should underpin the growth performance in the EU,'' the Commission said.

McCreevy's officials were also gathering more detailed information on IKB ''to understand the specificities'' while also continuing to monitor the impact of recent market developments, the EU executive said.

Officials for EU Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes have contacted the German authorities to obtain details of IKB's rescue package, a Commission spokeswoman said.

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