Manuel Moreno Capa | As soon as Boris Johnson swept to victory in the UK general election of last December 12, he made two decisions that have not been welcomed by the City of London: the first, to reduce the transitional period of Brexit to one year (how naive he is if he thinks his tough stance will soften the positions already taken by Brussels); the second, to appoint a new Governor of the Bank of England not much liked by the markets.
The European leveraged financial markets have an increasing attraction for investors seeking more risk. According to data from Moody’s, the new volumes of issuance of European Collateralized Loan Obligations (CLOs), one of the main sources of demand for leveraged loans, stand at 6.4 billion euros in the year to date. At this rate, it will exceed the annual figure for 2017 of 18.8 billion euros, which was the highest in the last 10 years.
The City’s conclusion is that, in relation to their size, the US private equity firms could dedicate more time and deploy more capital in Europe, to the benefit of everyone. But these firms still have doubts about the future of the Eurozone after Brexit. Other non-US and non-European actors are grabbing those opportunities reticent US investors are letting pass by.
LONDON | Whether it is electoral incentives or sincere concern what compelled the UK government to call for supervision from outside the banking sector, free market advocates must have felt an acute sense of betrayal. On Tuesday, the Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne no only reminded the City that the British Bankers Association members will not see a penny of the £290-million fine that has been imposed to Barclays…
A shocking fact, from the revolving door here at thecorner.eu via Spain’s business paper Expansión, and a worth-noting point for readers tired of stereotypes: former Financial Times correspondent in Madrid Tom Burns has news for the pink’un-obsessed continental Europeans. What’s the dead-tree media brand of preference in the City of London? Not that one. Burns says City types love the finance pages of The Daily Telegraph, instead. “[In Europe] those in…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The British prime minister David Cameron may perform his isolationist act as theatrically as he likes, but facts are stubborn showing that the British banking sector very much prefers to take advantage of the European Central Bank help when available. Barclays, one of the British banking sector’s heavyweights, has confirmed that its order in the last ECB liquidity operation with a three years maturity…
LONDON | Spanish president Mariano Rajoy stepped on to Downing Street but talked instead to the City of London. It will not be the last time that this happens. The shift in the UK’s relationship with most European Union country members should be a troubling sign of the declining power Whitehall and the Houses of Parliament retain amid one of the most crude economic downturns seen in some decades. Then…