France and Belgium rushed to the aid of Dexia SA (DEXI.BR) on Tuesday, in what will be the first state rescue of a European bank in the euro zone sovereign debt crisis.
The lender to hundreds of French and Belgian towns, which also needed propping up after the 2008 financial crisis, will see its French municipal finance arm broken off and put under the ownership of French state banks.
The rescue plan also looks likely to involve a broader break-up, with the sale of healthier operations, such as its Belgian and Turkish banking businesses, as well as the creation of a state-guaranteed pool of toxic assets. [...]
"Basically, what we're getting toward here is backdoor nationalization," said one London-based analyst speaking on condition of anonymity. "Everything that's happening now is just a case of how you split up the pie but really the pie is all going toward the state, effectively."
Quelle: Reuters
