How can banks balance stakeholders and Covid-19?

For banks, the potential conflict between local community loyalty and the interests of both prudential supervisors and international investors is not new. But, especially in Europe, the coronavirus crisis is making it an urgent question once again. 

Banks need to protect their capital. At the same time, in this emergency, they must do all they can to support clients whose repayment capacity they know. And they will want to contribute to the humanitarian effort. 

However, the question is whether or not it is their role to prop up small businesses whose creditworthiness is hard to fathom, anymore than it is to intervene directly in public health systems.