THERE'S a point at which numbers get so big they defy comprehension. Standard & Poor's calculates global markets lost $US6.4 trillion ($A8 trillion) in value in the eight months to the end of August.
If more than $US6 trillion is difficult to envisage, half a trillion isn't much easier. Bank write-offs and credit losses globally now stand at $US513.9 billion since the crisis began last year, according to Bloomberg. And we're not at the bottom yet - the International Monetary Fund expects banks to lose between $US560 billion and $US685 billion before it's all over, and the entire global financial system to wear about $US1.1 trillion in losses.
Still struggling with the numbers? It may help to break down some of that $US513 billion into bank-by-bank losses. Citi has written off more than $US40 billion, and Merrill Lynch a similar amount. Of the European players, UBS raised its losses by $US5 billion to $US43 billion just last month, while HSBC has lost about $US20 billion and Royal Bank of Scotland about $US12 billion.
Still finding it hard? Try £2 billion ($A4.4 billion). That's how much panicked depositors withdrew from British bank Northern Rock until the British Government intervened one year ago today. The week before, the Bank of China revealed $US9 billion in subprime losses.
How about $410 million? That is the approximate combined exposure of Australian banks to the failed Lehman Brothers. It sounds like a fair bit, but it's a considerably more benign figure than the $1 billion NAB has warned it may lose on investments linked to the US mortgage market.
Speaking of which, 2 million is a much smaller number - but it's still hard to imagine that many people losing their homes. US real estate research company RealtyTrack says almost 2 million foreclosure filings have been lodged in the US so far this year - more than 300,000 in August alone.
US bank closures have followed the collapse of the US housing market - 11 so far this year. Those 11 banks were worth a combined $US40 billion in assets - about $US30 billion of which was linked to failed mortgage lender IndyMac.
Eight days ago, the IMF's first deputy managing director, John Lipsky, warned there would be "significant restructuring" in the financial sector. What has happened this week certainly amounts to that.
He also tipped that "the financial sector will look different than before the crisis". Obvious, but certainly correct. Look at the numbers.
