The FT has an interesting article predicting that European banks are about to face a wave of defaults on credit cards along the lines already seen in the US. What is particularly interesting os that according to IMF data, Europeans are more indebted than their profligate American cousins. Who knew?

The International Monetary Fund estimates that of US consumer debt totalling $1,914bn, about 14 per cent will turn sour.

It expects that 7 per cent of the $2,467bn of consumer debt in Europe will be lost, with much of that falling in the UK, the continent’s biggest nation of credit card borrowers.