French Banks Have EU’s Top Middle East Exposure, EBA Says

French banks had about €60.8 billion ($69.9 billion) in direct exposures to counterparties located in the Middle East at the end of last year, according to the European Union’s banking regulator.

That’s almost half the €132.1 billion total for banks from 29 European countries, the European Banking Authority said on Monday in Paris. The wider figure is less than 0.5% of overall banking assets, it said.