ECB’s €1-T Property Loan Crackdown Starts With Signa Quiz

European Central Bank (ECB) staff were concerned.

The ECB isn’t done scrutinizing risks in the plunging commercial real estate markets.

After grilling more than half a dozen German and Austrian banks about their loans to property tycoon Rene Benko’s €23 billion ($25 billion) Signa empire last year, they came away worried its lenders could be sitting on losses that they had yet to recognize, reported Jack Sidders and Neil Callanan for Bloomberg News.

With commercial real estate markets souring, the ECB challenged the finance providers on the value of the collateral pledged by Benko’s Signa, a conglomerate known for aggressive bets and a lack of transparency, and ultimately pushed some of them to write down the debt or build additional provisions for losses.

Months later, the billionaire’s empire would implode in one of the largest real estate failures since the global financial crisis. The probe, run by a dedicated team of about 20 regulators, marked the latest escalation of a supervisory campaign going back more than half a decade.

And the ECB isn’t done yet, scrutinizing risks in the plunging commercial real estate markets.

Senior officials are now discussing fresh measures to ensure banks most exposed to vulnerable parts of the asset class can handle the fallout. These include further provisions and improving their collateral relative to loans, as also reported by Marton Eder and Stephan Kahn for Bloomberg News.

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