The big four Australian banks have only limited exposure to the debt-laden investment vehicle Dubai World and do not expect to suffer any material losses.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) was the last of the major banks to clarify its position in relation to Dubai.
"Commonwealth Bank of Australia confirms that it does have a financial exposure to Dubai World, but it does not expect to incur a material loss as a result of the recently announced debt moratorium," the bank said in a statement yesterday.
ANZ also issued a statement, although the bank had already denied any material exposure last Friday.
"Following last week's announcement of a standstill arrangement by Dubai World, ANZ today confirmed that it has no material exposure to Dubai World," it said yesterday.
Westpac last week denied any material losses from its ties with Dubai World, while a spokesperson from National Australia Bank (NAB) made similar remarks.
The banks saw a decline in their share prices last week after Dubai World asked for a delay of repayments on $3.8 billion in loans.
The investment company has in total about $65 billion outstanding, a large part of which is with foreign banks.
But the banks' statements combined with the pledge of the United Arab Emirates, of which Dubai is part, to support the country's domestic and foreign banks helped to take the pressure off share prices yesterday.
Analysts do not expect to see any material exposures in any other sectors of the Australian economy.
"The only other companies that have exposures are construction/property companies like Leighton and Sunland," Credit Suisse analyst Arjan van Veen said. But he did not expect these exposures to be material either.
UK banks including HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered are among the biggest lenders to Dubai World.
