Crashed: How a Decade of Financial Crises Changed the World

by Adam Tooze

and finance others led the field. The UK, France, the Benelux and Ireland (the latter hidden within the category “Rest of Euro area”) were the key hubs for financial flows. The City of London, home to banks from around the world, including all the leading German banks, stands out as the major financial partner for every eurozone member, even though it was not a member of the currency union. France and the Benelux were particularly important because they served as channels through which funds flowed into the eurozone from the outside. American and other lenders from the rest of the world clearly preferred to do business with well-known French, Dutch and Belgian counterparties, who then channeled the funds to the European periphery. France was a major financial hub, not because it had a huge trade surplus but because it had large, ambitious banks that were willing to borrow to lend: 445 billion euros flowed out of France and 447 billion flowed in, leaving a net imbalance of merely 2 billion euros. At the same time, 602 billion euros flowed out of the Benelux banking centers and 559 billion flowed in. The Dutch trade surplus made up the difference.