European banks may have exacerbated financial market turmoil resulting from a global credit crunch by failing to come clean

Some European banks may have exacerbated financial market turmoil resulting from a global credit crunch by failing to come clean about their exposure to risky assets, a top European Union banking supervisor said Tuesday.
The Committee of European Banking Supervisors has analyzed 20 big cross-border banks in Europe and is concerned by some of its findings, particularly how the banks value and disclose investments whose markets have dried up because of the credit squeeze.
"Our preliminary findings show there are differences in terms of content of disclosure and presentations banks make in statements," Kerstin af Jochnick, head of the committee, told the European Parliament's economic affairs committee.
"Lack of consistency in banks' valuations, uncertainty about their accuracy and inadequate transparency may have contributed to the lack of confidence of market participants and exacerbated the market turbulence," said Jochnick, who is also an official with the Swedish banking supervisory body.
"We have seen there is still significant stress in the market," she said.