06 August 2012, Sweetcrude, LONDON – CHIEF Financial Officer of Royal Dutch Shell, Simon Henry, has confirmed that the company has begun to move funds out of banks in Europe in the aftermaths of fears over the euro zone debt crisis.
Shell is cutting back its exposure to European credit risk in the worst-hit economies and putting a higher price on doing business with the region’s peripheral nations, Henry told The Times on Monday.
“There’s been a shift in our willingness to take credit risk in Europe. The crisis has impacted our willingness to afford credit,” he added.
According to him, the Anglo-Dutch oil major would rather deposit $15 billion of cash in non-European assets, such as US Treasuries and US bank accounts.
The company is forced to keep some money in Europe to fund its operations, but a bulk of its reserve liquidity is being moved out of the euro zone to avoid growing macroeconomic risk, the report said.