European banks have large exposure to Dubai debt

JP Morgan (JPM), RBS (RBS), Credit Suisse (CS) and several other large firms with financial research arms have put out educated guesses as to which banks are most exposed to Dubai debt. Coming up with these numbers has turned out to be an inexact science. And, Dubai may make good on its payments, so the concern about large bank write-offs could turn out to be academic.

Credit Suisse reports that European banks may have as much as $40 billion in exposure in Dubai. RBS says that getting correct numbers on Dubai is not possible but that European banks have almost $84 billion in exposure in the United Arab Emirates. According toThe Wall Street Journal, RBS derived its data by "using data compiled by the Bank for International Settlements. U.K. banks have by far the largest exposure at $49.5 billion, while French and German banks top the euro-zone list with $11.3 billion and $10.2 billion respectively."