Pandemic to Drive Over a Trillion Dollars of European Bad Loans

A trillion-dollar wave of non-performing loans could emerge in Europe next year as a result of the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.

As government support schemes and moratoriums on debts come to an end throughout this year, sales of bad loans by banks trying to clean up their balance sheets will climb in 2022, according to a report from advisory firm JLL. The European Central Bank has said that under a severe but plausible scenario, there could be as much as 1.4 trillion euros ($1.7 trillion) worth of bad loans as a result of Covid-19.

“We do think it ...