The paper found that the National Australia Bank and ANZ are exposed to two US energy companies that have a combined debt of $US42 billion. NRG Energy has about $US17 billion of debt while the embattled El Paso Corp owes about $US25 billion.
The paper said the ANZ was exposed to El Paso, which may need to sell more assets as it draws down $1.5 billion of its credit line. As for the NAB, it is exposed to NRG Energy, which put its four Australian power plants on the market this year.
In its 2002 annual report, ANZ disclosed the 56.5% of its Americas energy portfolio was sub-investment grade. Similarly, Westpac disclosed at its full-year results that 17% of its North American energy exposure was sub-investment grade.
"The exposure to the ailing energy and telecommunication sectors has sparked questions about the big four banks' risk management policies," the Financial Review said.
