Leading investment banks on both sides of the Atlantic are saddled with almost $500 billion (£246 billion) in agreed leveraged loans that they are unable to parcel out to other investors.

New figures from Dealogic reveal that in Europe the banks are struggling to clear a backlog of $208 billion worth of leveraged loans that they would normally have sold on through syndication.

In the United States, the figures also show that investment banks are stuck with $269 billion of agreed loans that they are unable to syndicate.

News of the glut of debt on the banks’ balance sheets comes as the shake-out in credit markets produced new casualties as global markets were racked by further volatility.

The Dealogic figures highlight the growing problems faced by investment banks over loans to companies and private equity firms that they have already guaranteed but are now unable to sell down to other investors.

In Europe, RBS has been left holding the biggest debt pile, with $18 billion worth of leveraged loans, followed by JPMorgan with $17.4 billion and Barclays Capital, which has lent $16.2 billion. All three banks were involved in the £9 billion of debt underwriting Kohlberg Kravis Roberts’ acquisition of Alliance Boots, the British health and beauty retailer, which got stuck this month, forcing the banks to hold more than £7 billion of the loans on their balance sheets.

Dozens of other high-profile deals, including Cadbury’s sale of its American drinks unit and the $23 billion sale of Virgin Media, have effectively been put on hold until later in the year, when banks hope investor appetite for leveraged loans will return.

As it reported first-half results yesterday, Ken Hanna, chief financial officer at Cadbury Schweppes, said: “The correction in the debt markets last week was more serious than after September 11. It’s very difficult or impossible for buyers to get access to the debt markets . . . It looks like severe indigestion.”

In response to tightening credit markets global share markets endured another volatile day. The turmoil gripping stock and bond markets was emphasised as the US Vix index – often called Wall Street’s “fear gauge” – surged by 12.7 per cent to within a fraction of a four-year high. Investors also had to deal with record oil prices with US light crude hitting $78.77 a barrel before easing.

London’s leading shares succumbed to a renewed plunge after a short-lived rebound on Tuesday, although the Dow Jones industrial average ended a volatile session up 150.40 points at 13,362.40.

Among the latest to join the growing global casualty list were Mac-quarie, the Australian bank, which gave warning of losses in two of its credit funds, and American Home Mortgage Investment Corporation, which said it may have to liquidate assets and was now unable to borrow on its credit facilities.

Bear Stearns, the US investment bank already reeling from the American sub-prime crisis, said that it had halted redemptions in another of its hedge funds as nervous investors tried to pull their money out.

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