Second, such losses started
to constitute a credit risk, since the companies could fail to pay to the banks.
As nobody knew accurately which companies and which banks were involved,
that constituted an additional factor to the strong restriction of liquidity in the
interbank operations and the accentuated reduction of the credit for fi rms in
the emerging economies, even in those possessing a bank system that was not
linked to the complex operations that resulted in the international fi nancial
crisis