"Real Estate Crisis Hits Banks in Asia-Pacific and US: Investors Sound Alarm"

Fitch Ratings reports that banks in the Asia-Pacific region have exposure to troubled US commercial real estate (CRE), particularly office and retail properties, with some banks holding higher levels of US CRE loans than others. While exposure to US property, including CRE, is generally less than 2% of lending for publicly disclosed banks, the actual extent of exposure remains unclear due to limited data disclosure. The report highlights that US banks' exposure to US office CRE and US CRE debt in general is not as severe as initially feared, as the debt is held globally, with global investors and banks also bearing the risk.