Financial Times FT.com

Retreat to bottom line not an option

By John Willman

Published: June 2 2008 18:05 | Last updated: June 2 2008 18:05

Sustainable banking is a term that has acquired new meaning in the past year, as the world’s leading financial institutions have struggled to deal with the US sub-prime lending crisis.

Banks that prided themselves on the sustainability of their lending practices have found themselves writing off debt that they had thought was – almost literally – safe as houses.

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