It also beat its peers in derivatives exposures, trading assets, cross-border risk, liquidity and market risk.

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True, the euro will lead to a big growth in cross-border business, as currency risk disappears and investors begin to assess companies according to their industrial sector, not their domicile.

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So I was curious to see this exact phrase pop up in various media analyses where implications of Euro-demise, such as redenomination risk, cross-border contract liability, and so on are getting a thinking through, at least in the media, for example here in the WSJ.

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And there is much more to be done, it suggests, involving cross-border banking, disclosure requirements, indices of systemic risk and international co-operation.

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He said it could put three million jobs at risk, make it difficult to deal with cross-border threats such as climate change, and would also mean Britain was "taken less seriously in Washington, Beijing, Tokyo".

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According to a recent study by Mercer Oliver Wyman, a consulting group, and Morgan Stanley, an investment bank, cross-border mergers can work if the buyer brings more sophisticated information-technology and risk management to the target.

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Supporters of the UK coalition tend to stress the need for cross-border collaboration - a fairly obvious code for "this is not the moment to take the risk of independence".

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