Bankers keep the flags flying

Banks are CURRENTLY having to cope with all manner of problems, cutting expenses wherever they can. 
In the West, savings are being made in terms of office space – but not in Central Europe. Here financiers seem intent on staying putEmil Górecki, Mladen Petrov Offices in the City of London are alive with the sound of removal services. To a greater degree than other institutions, banks have been exposed to what the financial crisis really entails and were among the first to inform their employees that redundancies were inevitable. The City is beginning to empty. Demand from City banks fell 69 pct in the second half of 2008 compared with 2007. Rental rates also fell by 11.5 pct in the same period. 
  But London is not alone in its suffering. Banking centres such as Frankfurt and Amsterdam are also sharing the agonies felt by these important tenants of prime office space. Al