Banks lobby for eastern Europe funds

Leading international banks operating in central and eastern Europe have clubbed together to lobby the EU and the ECB to extend their anti-crisis policies to ease the credit crunch in the region. The group of nine, which wants action to ease liquidity shortages and revive lending, is urging Brussels and the ECB to extend support beyond the EU’s new member states, such as Poland, to prospective members, such as Serbia, and to Ukraine, which has few prospects of joining the bloc soon. Herbert Stepic, chief executive of Raiffeisen International, the Austrian bank, who brought the group together, said any action to support banks should not be limited to western Europe.