What makes matters worse is that these same assets are still being hyped in potential and size to leverage balance sheets.

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In the past, the premiums they paid into a central emergency-fund for bailing out troubled banks were crudely linked to the size of their balance sheets.

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Even so companies may well have to draw on uncommitted credit facilities with banks, expanding the size of bank balance-sheets.

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Lack of co-ordination has been blamed for making the financial crisis worse, with national authorities not aware of the true size of banks' balance sheets within their borders.

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That then increases the size of the hole in their balance sheets, and therefore the scale of the official rescue from taxpayers they will eventually require.

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Mooted new accounting rules may increase the size of pension liabilities on firms' balance sheets, and other proposals could exacerbate the effect of swings in the value of stocks and bonds.

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