Nowhere is this more evident than in the eurozone.

For one sector of the UK lending market at least, the concerns overshadowing Greek, Portuguese, Spanish and Irish sovereign debt may seriously impact a significant growing source of lending here in the UK.

The CML revealed that the top six lenders accounted for an estimated 81.5% of the total volume of lending undertaken last year.

Coupled with our own observations that some of those lenders have significantly reduced their activity this year, it highlights the fact that this year some organisations have stepped up their net UK lending activity.

In their place, most noticeably in the South East, has been the rise of private banks, which have made significant inroads into the £500,000+ mortgage market.

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It is a logical move.

This lending is more profitable than ever and their exposure to the boom market was minimal.

While it is understandable that private banks have not helped the mass market, they have played an important role in recent months in maintaining lending at the top end.

However, the volatility of the international markets means we cannot realistically expect private banks to provide anything other than supplementary lending.

Theirs might be a niche role, but a functioning market requires all parts to be working and without them we could have expected a far more uncomfortable time.

Yet, we cannot ignore that many private banks have exposures to eurozone sovereign debt that mean they are vulnerable to the movements of markets.

It is for this reason that issues in the eurozone should concern us all.

The continued success of private bank lending requires considered management of the eurozone debt.

Robin Johnson is managing director of Kinleigh, Folkard and Hayward