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Markets 19th December 2013

What do EBA tests reveal, or fail to highlight, about Greek banks?

Macropolis | The European Banking Authority (EBA) disclosed on December 16 the results of a transparency exercise covering 64 European banks from 21 countries. The aim of the exercise was to share updated information based on first half 2013 data about banks’ operations according to uniform benchmarks.

The European Banking Authority (EBA) disclosed on December 16 the results of a transparency exercise covering 64 European banks from 21 countries. The aim of the exercise was to share updated information based on first half 2013 data about banks’ operations according to uniform benchmarks. – See more at: http://www.macropolis.gr/?i=portal.en.economy.699&itemId=699#sthash.rawJn6MF.dpuf
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Markets 17th December 2013

To Taper or Not to Taper

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | As the Fed begins its last meeting of the year, the question is making big headlines and debates in the U.S. this week: Will the central bank start to wind down its $85 billion a month in asset purchases before or after March? The majority of economists were not expecting the Federal Reserve to leave QE before March. But the good data coming from China, the U.S. and Europe might be a game changer. [Video: CMC Markets]

 

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Markets 16th December 2013

Why are bankers investigated in Iceland and not so much elsewhere?

LONDON | By Sigrún Davíðsdóttir via Icelog | Today [the author wrote this post on Dec 12] I was interviewed both on BBC radio 5 live and BBC radio 2 regarding bankers being sentenced to prison in Iceland. On both stations I was asked why bankers are being prosecuted in Iceland. I would rather turn that question around? Why are bankers not being investigated – and eventually charged, if there is a case against them – in other countries, for example in Britain?

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Markets 10th December 2013

Why China’s Central Bank Took the Regulatory Lead on Bitcoin

BEIJING | By Liu Xiao via Caixin | The People’s Bank of China is the first regulator in the world to issue rules on the virtual currency, a move that prevents a Bitcoin breakthrough. Apparently, what really concerns the central bank is bitcoins replacing the yuan.

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Markets 6th December 2013

Clamp down on rate-fixing riggers

MADRID | By J.P. Marín Arrese |The European competition watchdog has imposed a record € 1.7 billion fine on six top banking groups for their disreputable behaviour in fixing Euribor and Yen-Libor rates. Deutsche Bank (725 bn), Société Générale (446 bn) and RBS (391 bn) rank as top losers in this shameful hit parade. JPMorgan and Citigroup are also losing their creditworthiness as fair financial players. UBS and Barclays escape unscathed, benefitting from full leniency as their whistleblowing helped to frame culprits. This move follows similar probes in a number of jurisdictions. Up to now, bankers are poised footing a hefty $6bn bill for grossly abusing fair market rules.  

DTA

Markets 26th November 2013

Spanish banking tax ballooning

MADRID | By J.P. Marín Arrese | Spanish banks are frantically pressing government to transform their deferred tax assets (DTA) into rock-solid unconditional commitments. Failure to do so before the end of the year would deprive them of 40 billion in Tier 1 capital, an amount equivalent to last year’s rescue package. Unless they secure full immunity for current DTA, they are bound to devote ample resources in redressing their own resources.

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Markets 20th November 2013

Getting China’s Challenges Right

What really makes China anxious about reforms is not a fall on exports, but it’s incapability to continue absorbing the expensive investments that for years triggered miraculous growth. Could be China making the same mistakes than in 2008? Could the country be falling into the investment trap again? Among many other issues, the Central Committee of the Communist Party agreed on markets playing a greater role in allocating resources. This and other decisions suggested a less interventionist model where the private sector should have a greater role. The new leadership doesn’t have many options left.

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Markets 7th November 2013

Twitter IPO: First Trade at $45.10 as it Happened

NEW YORK | By Ana Fuentes | Micro-blogging star Twitter made its debut at NYSE on Thursday, opening at $45.10 a share, well above the $26 set by the firm and its bankers. Indeed, it was a big day for the New York stock, more than for the company itself, since what we saw on the floor was a mere game of offer and demand, nothing to do with the company’s real value. Outside of Wall Street and Silicon Valley, many find it hard to get excited about this IPO.

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Markets 7th November 2013

Spain’s banks dealt dose of loan reality

MADRID | By Ilan Brat and Christopher Bjork at The Wall Street Journal via Presseurop | It has puzzled Spanish bank analysts for years: Why did the country’s mortgage delinquency rate rise so slowly even as unemployment soared above 26%? A big part of the answer—revealed by a spate of bank earnings reports in recent days—is that Spanish lenders had been making their loan books look healthier than they really were by refinancing big numbers of loans to struggling homeowners and businesses.

BLEIBEL banking union

Markets 6th November 2013

European Banking Union, Arcadia Felix

MADRID | By Raimundo Poveda | With the typical delays of the first willful calendars, the European Community Resolution that regulates a common supervisor for the euro zone and guests (SSM, single supervisory mechanism) was finally published. Press and politicians are announcing the Banking Union, a new name for an invention of limited scope. We already had a common banking market since 1989, and a European Banking Authority since 2011. The Banking Union will turn back the financial Balkanization process triggered by the crisis. So entities will get abundant credit at unified interest rates, just as during the bubble; SMEs in the South will pay for credit the same as German SMEs; and there will be credit! We will go back to the Arcadia Felix of the first five years of the century. True? Well, maybe not.