The leverage was on the order of the UK's 96%,

[seemslikeadream]

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/tradingdesk/archive/2009/02/11/less-risk-in-canadian-banks-ubs.aspx



US banks were leveraged something like 83%, which is why we are having such a mess of things. Canadian banks, if I followed his logic, were only leveraged to about 78%, which is why people in Canada are not screaming bloody murder about sailing off the edge of the financial world. But in Europe - and this is a scary thing to think about, the leverage was on the order of the UK's 96%, which means that when Europe starts to collapse, it's going down big-time. We're already seeing the story's leading edge with headlines like


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/4593539/European-banks-toxic-debts-risk-overwhelming-EU-governments.html


European banks' toxic debts risk overwhelming EU governments


The toxic debts of European banks risk overwhelming a number of EU governments and may pose a “systemic” danger to the broader EU banking system, according a confidential memo prepared by the European Commission.



http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,606721,00.html

Popular Rage Grows as Global Crisis Worsens
By SPIEGEL Staff

As the global economic crisis deepens, tempers around the world are getting shorter. French and British trade unions are organizing strikes, Putin is sending troops into the streets and Beijing is trying to buy itself calm.

[Ghost Dog]

1. Where do you get the leverage figure for European banks

(ex-UK) from? The National Post link only refers to Canada with “a low loan-to-deposit ratio of 78% versus 83% in the U.S., 96% in the U.K.”.