OECD rules out ‘systemic risk’ after SVB bankruptcy

(Paris) A few days after the bankruptcy of the American bank SVB which sparked a stock market panic in the banking sector, the OECD ruled out on Friday any risk of a “systemic crisis” comparable to that of 2008.

“We are in a very different situation from 2008,” said Alvaro Pereira, acting chief economist of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), at a press conference in Paris.

“We have created stronger regulation, central banks and regulators have learned from previous crises […] and most banks in the world are well capitalized,” he tried to reassure.

“While I know we may see bouts of turbulence, we do not view ‘SVB’s bankruptcy’ as a systemic risk at this time,” Mr. Pereira concluded.

“While there is obviously an increased risk to financial stability as long as markets are volatile, we believe the risks of wider contagion are rather limited,” added OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann.

The organization also took advantage of the presentation of its new economic forecasts on Friday to lend its support to the European Central Bank, which decided on Thursday to stick to its monetary tightening strategy and raised its main rates by 0. .5 percentage points despite instability in the markets.

“The main problem we are still facing is inflation”, which has returned in recent months in Europe to levels not seen in decades, insisted Alvaro Pereira.

To try to reduce it, “we think it is very important that monetary policy continues in the same direction,” he said, as the US Federal Reserve meets in a few days.

Earlier in the week, several European politicians have already tried to calm the concerns, the European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni having dismissed on Monday the prospect of a “direct contagion” to the economy of the Old Continent.

Not enough to dissipate the clouds completely, however, the Swiss bank Credit Suisse having meanwhile experienced serious difficulties and plunged the markets into turmoil. OECD officials interviewed by AFP on Friday declined to comment on the Credit Suisse case.

Credit Suisse is “a special case that has been known for several years,” Banque de France Governor François Villeroy de Galhau said Friday morning on BFM Business.