Market Overview
- 01:57
An overview of the differences between the US and European debt markets
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Glossary
Private Debt Public Debt SecuritiesTranscript
This slide simply shows the distribution between public and private debt, securities, the stock market capitalization, and bank credits in the Euro area and in the United States. So if we compare the orange and the blue here, we'll see in the Euro area much bigger proportion of the total credits is bank credits. And only a very small proportion is public and private debt that has been securitized and are trading in the markets. While in America, public and private debt securities make up for about as much as the total bank credits. So this shows the huge difference there in traditions between the US markets, where things tend to be securitized and traded in markets, and Europe, where bank credit makes up the absolute bulk of total credits. Why is this the case? Well, traditionally, Europeans have been inclined to save money in banks, and in saving money in the banks. So putting money on deposit with banks, have of course allowed banks to have more capital on their balance sheet and been able to make more loans to corporates and individuals. And that interest, of course, has created a longstanding tradition in Europe that if you're a corporate, you need to borrow, you will go to your bank. So the EU has by far the less developed credit markets compared to the United States of America. There are signs that this is changing in Europe now, and that more debt is securitized and traded in the market. And that is, of course, a reflection of the fact that European banks are de-leveraging somewhat. And the United States is by far the biggest debt market on the globe. It represents around one third of the total US dollar value of all outstanding bonds and credit. No surprise there. Treasury bonds are the biggest balance, and then we have mortgage related bonds and corporate debt following very closely. The second biggest debt market in the world is actually Japan.