Because they have counted this as a cost, they say that minimum capital requirements should be calculated on the basis of credit-card assets net of expected losses.
As Citigroup faces another massive quarterly write-down of credit derivative assets, questions remain about other banks' exposures, and when the crisis goes from a trading book issue into an industrywide credit quality problem.
And if a lack of liquidity is the problem in some credit instruments, the Fed's direct purchase of those assets should contribute to a credit thaw.
Meanwhile, in further signs of nervousness about the Greek economic situation, French bank Credit Agricole has taken control of assets owned by its Greek subsidiary, Emporiki Bank.
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Spending was driven by a boom in cheap credit and the prices of assets, which were forever being pushed higher.
Now and in the coming years, the banks will increasingly have to deal with booms and busts in credit and the prices of assets such as homes and shares.
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Layering of risk means the borrowers courted by these lenders had multiple characteristics that would put them at high risk for default, including no down payment, no documentation of income or assets, low credit scores and second mortgage in lieu of a down payment.
They are the ones who turned blind eyes to the concoction of credit and who validated the new paradigm of leveraging inflated assets as a way to spend, rather than saving the old-fashioned way.
In fact, for all the current excitement about rock-star bonds and the like, it is striking that the vast majority of asset-backed securities are American and involve a few types of assets, such as mortgage and credit-card loans, which generate relatively predictable amounts of cash at predictable times.
Lloyds has tried to minimise the contraction in the provision of vital credit by shrinking what it calls its non-core portfolio of assets - and in the three months to the end of March, it says it increased important lending to small businesses by a net 4%, compared with a contraction in the overall market of 4%.
The issue of valuing hard-to-value assets has hovered over all sorts of investment funds holding illiquid assets ever since the credit crisis hit financial markets.
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Finally, ask yourself what other assets or sources of credit you have in case you need extra cash.
One option that has repeatedly been raised is for the firm to sell all or part of its Neuberger and Berman asset-management unit, but that would leave it with a large proportion of assets impacted by the credit-market turmoil.
These provisions need to be designed and applied in a way that does not deter the participation by the private sector in generally available programs to stabilize the housing markets, jump-start the credit markets, and rid banks of legacy assets.
Canada's banks avoided going down the route of those of many developed countries, keeping higher stocks of good quality assets partly thanks to a tighter grip on regulation - much of the credit for which is laid at his door.
Redemption battles between hedge funds and their investors have been a common feature of the credit crisis as hedge funds blocked cash outflows in the name of preserving value of the underlying assets.
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Some of these assets are extremely complicated: credit derivatives, collateralized debt obligations, credit defaults swaps.
In 2008, Ventas accelerated its balance sheet and liquidity improvement by raising equity, selling assets and increasing bank lines of credit.
"We target institutions with high degrees of leverage, high concentrations of assets in deteriorating sectors and rising credit costs, " Paulson wrote this spring.
To rekindle the credit market, the banks must get rid of those toxic assets.
The Mexican currency was hardest hit during the 2008 credit crisis as investors sold out of Mexican bonds and other assets.
"There were too few check and balances and the credit approval process was too narrowly focused on the assets of the debtor, " says Singh.
Credit Suisse has advised DP World on the sale of real estate assets.
"If particular assets they want become more desirable because of credit market difficulties, I'm sure they will take advantage of the situation, " said Randolph.
It is that the credit will be provided to them against the security of pretty much any assets that the banks have, rather than the more narrowly defined and better quality assets that the Bank currently insists they provide.
Switzerland, home to two huge banks, UBS and Credit Suisse, each of which at the time of the crisis had assets at least twice the size of the country's annual GDP, is also proposing unusually strict capital rules and giving regulators a say over its banks' business decisions.
Big banks have sold bundles of loans to investors who want assets that have a specific credit quality.
They're really highly leveraged, which means, you know, they have a dollar of assets on their books and they can go into the credit markets and borrow many times its value.
The news, which was seen as a sign of how devastating the credit crisis has been, even for those with assets once considered relatively low-risk, sent shock waves across the European market.
"The rapid expansion of trust assets in 2012 has possibly increased the industry's credit risk and liquidity risk, " National Trust said in its earnings report.
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