British banks are Europe’s biggest lenders to the United Arab Emirates, constituting $49.5 billion of the continent’s $87.3 billion loans outstanding to the Gulf state, Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc said.
French banks have the second-largest amount of loans, $11.3 billion, followed by $10.2 billion for Germany’s banks and 4.7 billion for Dutch lenders, RBS said in a note today, saying it used Bank for International Settlements data.
The figures are for loans as of June 2009 and exclude bonds, the note said. Separate data for Dubai, one of seven emirates that make up the U.A.E., are not available, it added.
Stocks and commodities dropped today, Treasuries jumped and credit default swaps climbed after Dubai’s attempt to reschedule debt rattled investors this week.
The British government has given more than a trillion pounds ($1.67 trillion) of publicly funded support to keep the U.K. financial system afloat since the beginning of the worst post-Depression financial crisis last year. RBS is getting 45 billion pounds ($75 billion) from the British taxpayer, making it the world’s most expensive bank bailout.
Swiss bank loans to the U.A.E. stood at $4.3 billion while Italian banks had $1.9 billion and Belgian lenders $1.3 billion in loans outstanding, RBS wrote. The figures for the U.S. and Japan are $9.9 billion and $8.6 billion, respectively
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