摘要：Both the matured West European countries and the emerging East European countries are currently facing an economic recession lasting probably at least until 2010. In the matured Western countries it was the subprime crisis triggering a financial and banking crisis leading to this economic crisis. In large parts of Eastern Europe, however,a currency crisis has triggered (or is at least about to trigger) a banking and an economic crisis at the same time. The banking crisis might cause second round effects on banks in Western countries that have been heavily engaged in East European credit markets. Whereas in the matured West European countries there have been systematic measures to stop the financial crisis aiming at restoring market confidence,in emerging Eastern Europe these measures have rather had an adhoccharacter so far predominantly trying to strengthen depositors' confidence in the banking system and mostly differing from country to country depending on how much emphasis has been put by the respective governments to defend the exchange rate of the local currency. Although subsidiaries of EU banks have played an important role in the financial deepening of Eastern Europe they have now become one of the most important channels of contagion,since – in contrast to what could have been expected by economic theory – there has been a massive withdrawal of funds by their parent banks in the EU.
