But France and Russia have a list of oil contracts waiting to go ahead once sanctions are lifted, and both countries are among Iraq's biggest creditors.

ECONOMIST: Who will run the new Iraq? | The

Banks, which have anyway never had much experience of lending to anyone else, fear that, if they do not keep handing out cash to their biggest creditors, they themselves may be dragged down too.

ECONOMIST: Cutting down the chaebol

Sanwa Bank, one of the chain's four biggest creditors, is weighing several schemes, including one in which Daiei's main supermarket operation has its debts forgiven, allowing it to survive, but other parts of the group are sold or shut down.

ECONOMIST: Japan's banks

Mr Sharif himself is one of the biggest debtors, but has refused to pay cash to his creditors, instead handing over assets that critics say are overvalued.

ECONOMIST: Pakistan takes a beating

Dow Corning, once the world's biggest makers of silicone gel implants, filed for protection from creditors in May 1995 after lawsuits from thousands of women were filed alleging health problems caused by the implants.

BBC: Huge rupture rate in breast implants

Oddbins tried to avoid administration by getting creditors to accept lower repayments, but one of the biggest, HM Revenue and Customs, refused.

BBC: Oddbins goes into administration