Europe is for profits, not prestige; most American banks have pulled out of the Continent in a kind of reverse D-Day, leaving the two dozen that remain to focus on specific businesses.
Kraus, James R.
American Banker
, Volume: 159
, Number: 209
, Page: 4(2)
, Oct 28
1994
American Banks that have operations in Europe are focusing on specific areas that they are competitive in. In 1982 as many as 77 American banks were operating in London, England. That number had dwindled to 25 by the end of 1993. Besides the banking operations in London, many American banks had offices in other cities throughout Europe. Those banks that have survived havereduced the size of their staff and closed commercial banking offices. Citicorp, which has the most European branches, even more than it does in the US, continues to expand, but has gone through a major reorganization effort.
After beating a wholesale retreat from Europe in the 1980s, U.S. banks are back in the market. Only this time, they are taking a far more focused --and profitable -- approach to doing business.
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U.S. bankers say they nowview Europe as an integral component of a broader international banking business, such as structuring big international financing packages and developing relations with European companies investing in the United States. Chemical, for example, took advantage of its connections to British Petroleum to help put together financing and an industrial consortium for construction of a Trans-Andean pipeline. The pipeline, which runs between Chile and Argentina. will be built by a group that includes Tenneco, British Gas, and Chilectra, a Chilean power company.
Copyright © 1994 Thomson Financial Information
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