According to a Fitch Ratings survey, the majority of senior credit investors in Europe believe that the markets are past the worst of their disruption.
Fitch’s Q209 survey of credit investors found that 72 percent believed this, compared to just 29% in Q109.
Fifty-four percent of European investors believe that banks have not been subjected to sufficient regulatory stress testing; however, the fear of a major bank collapse has fallen dramatically. Fifty-seven percent now score the chance of this as low, against 29% three months ago.
“European investors’ estimates of the length of the recession have shortened considerably since the end of the first quarter, in particular for emerging Europe,” said Trevor Pitman, Regional Credit Officer at Fitch for EMEA and Asia-Pacific.
Just 18% of investors believe that the recession will last in excess of 24 months in emerging Europe, compared to 55% at the end of the first quarter. Sixty-five percent believe that the recession’s duration will be 12-24 months against 39% in Q1.
“The availability of global liquidity remains the primary area of investor concern, although less convincingly so than in the previous quarter,” said Pitman.