Frankfurt - Contagion of Greece’s debt problems to the rest
of Europe could be worse than the collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers
in 2008, Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann said on Monday.
Greece needs €12bn in European and International Monetary Fund aid to avoid a default on its debt mountain in mid-July that could spread contagion across the euro currency area and send shock waves around the world economy.
"If it is Greece alone, that’s already big. But if other
countries are drawn in through contagion, it could be bigger than Lehman," he
said at a Reuters banking conference on Monday.
His words echoed statements top European Central Bank
policymaker Juergen Stark made earlier, when he said the impact of a Greek debt
restructuring on Europe’s markets could eclipse the insolvency of Lehman
Brothers, which marked the start of the global financial crisis.
French banks have agreed to roll over holdings of Greek debt for 30 years, but no comparable deal has been reached in Germany so far.