Investment banks suffer from slump

European investment banks have been struggling due to their gearing into the continued slump in equity markets and a rumour mill which is making investors jittery. Commerzbank and Credit Suisse are two of the organisations over which speculation is rife contributing a contagion effect impacting the rest of the sector. Talk of insolvency is rife, according to Raj Shant, head of European equities at Newton. That can be seen in the performance of the Dow Jones European Stoxx Financial Services Index which has lost 20% in euro terms from the 1 September 2002. Shant says: 'There ...