The latest valuation is based on just 12 share sales between employees over the last two months, highlighting the illiquidity of the closed markets on which its shares trade.

If spread out over several years, the bank could absorb the hit from Household implied by the mark to-market valuation without damaging its capital.

The prospect of denationalizing currency and surrendering control over a fundamental tool of statecraft — currency valuation — was daunting to the member states of the European Community (ec).