Jens Nordvig of Nomura pointed to the latest available weekly Fed data, which shows that the USD cash position of foreign banks was $837bn as per July 27 (vs $900bn as per July 13), compared to an average $394bn in 2010 and a mere $54bn in 2007.

"Since European banks dominate the foreign banks operating in the US, the bulk of this cash is sitting on eurozone bank balance sheets," he says. This would suggest that eurozone banks "have a significant buffer in place and that difficulty in obtaining new USD funding is not translating into immediate stress," Nordvig says.

Also, this explains why FX swap line are not yet being tapped and why the euro has been less correlated with the FX basis swap market, as was the case in 2008, he says.FX swap line are not yet being tapped and why the euro has been less correlated with the FX basis swap market, as was the case in 2008, he says.