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European banks suffer new hit from Madoff scandal
AFP - Monday, December 15
MADRID, (AFP) - - European banks were counting at the weekend the damage from the investment scandal involving New York trader Bernard Madoff, with Spain's largest bank Santander saying a subsidiary may have lost more than three billion dollars.
Madoff is alleged to have lost 50 billion dollars of investors' money in a giant pyramid scheme that collapsed in the global financial crisis.
Santander said its investment fund Optimal has an exposure of 2.33 billion euros (3.1 billion dollars). The bank said it had also invested 17 million euros of its own funds in Madoff products.
French bank BNP Paribas also revealed it could lose up to 350 million euros (470 million dollars) in the scandal.
A BNP Paribas statement said the bank had no direct investment with Madoff's company but "it does have risk exposure to these funds through its trading business and collateralised lending to funds of hedge funds.
"If, as a result of the alleged fraud, the value of the assets of these hedge funds is nil, BNP Paribas' loss could amount to around 350 million euros."
In Britain, a spokeswoman for Royal Bank of Scotland told AFP the bank had "some exposure" to Madoff, but declined to give details.
European media have said HSBC of Britain and Union Bancaire Privee of Switzerland could also have suffered, although neither has admitted or denied losing money.
The Financial Times, citing people close to the situation, said HSBC may be exposed to the tune of about one billion dollars.
The bank's exposure stemmed from loans it provided to institutional clients, mainly hedge funds of funds, who invested with Madoff, the daily said Monday.
A British investment fund that also acknowledged being a Madoff client criticised what it called the "systemic failure" of US regulators.
Bramdean Alternatives Limited said the accusations against Madoff raised "fundamental questions" about the American financial regulatory system.
"It is astonishing that this apparent fraud seems to have been continuing for so long, possibly for decades, while investors have continued to invest more money into the Madoff funds in good faith," the firm said in a statement.
Bramdean Alternatives invested around 21 million pounds (23.3 million euros, 31.2 million dollars), or around 9.5 percent of its portfolio, with Madoff's company.
British newspapers reported that among Bramdean's clients is property magnate Vincent Tchenguiz, one of Britain's richest men, who apparently invested 40 million pounds with the firm.
Swiss bankers face losses of up to five billion dollars (3.7 billion euros), Geneva's Le Temps newspaper said.
It said Union Bancaire Privee, a major asset management institution specialising in hedge funds, could be exposed to the tune of one billion dollars.
UBP refused to comment on the report, which said that 90 percent of fund management companies operating in Geneva invested in products of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC.
Italy's stock market watchdog, the Consob, has launched an investigation into the impact of the scandal on the national financial system, Ansa news agency reported.
The Bank of Spain also opened an investigation to determine the level of involvement of Spanish companies, the Spanish daily El Mundo said.
The Madoff scandal could have a bigger impact in Spain than the collapse of US bank Lehman Brothers this year, in which Spanish investors had exposure of between 1.3 and 2.6 billion euros.
Madoff was arrested on Thursday for allegedly defrauding his customers through a giant pyramid scheme, with prosecutors alleging that the 70-year-old, a Wall Street veteran, confessed to losing at least 50 billion dollars.
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