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Articles by Ana Fuentes

About the Author

Ana Fuentes
Columnist for El País and a contributor to SER (Sociedad Española de Radiodifusión), was the first editor-in-chief of The Corner. Currently based in Madrid, she has been a correspondent in New York, Beijing and Paris for several international media outlets such as Prisa Radio, Radio Netherlands or CNN en español. Ana holds a degree in Journalism from the Complutense University in Madrid and the Sorbonne University in Paris, and a Master's in Journalism from Spanish newspaper El País.
John Holland

Interviews 13th May 2015

John Holland: “Stress tests for asset managers? Of course!”

MADRID | May 13, 2015 | By Ana Fuentes | Professor at the Adam Smith Business School at Glasgow University, John Holland says financial institutions have become too complex for the general public and there is a crisis of confidence in banking and financial capitalism. He insists Basel III is not sufficient to regulate the banks and supports proposals to split up the different banking activities. This is the first part of our conversation.

No Picture

World economy 21st April 2015

Financial risks ballooning in the shadow

MADRID | April 21, 2015 | By Ana Fuentes | Seven years after financial meltdown, great concerns about sistemic risk remain. “We haven’t learned, bad practices are still there,” IOSCO’s David Wright recently told us.  Structural changes in the banking system along with a prolonged period of negative interest rates have prompted to new dangers. Central banks are helping via QE programs, although “you can have monetary liquidity and yet have an insufficiency of market liquidity,” which refers to the depth of financial markets, IMF Financial Counsellor José Viñals points out.

Klaus Zimmermann

Interviews 19th April 2015

“Austerity is not a growth strategy, neither is demand stimulus”

MADRID | April 19, 2015 | By Ana Fuentes | Germany’s Institute for the Study of Labor Chairman Klaus Zimmermann finds the debate between EU ‘austerians’ and ‘stimulus fans’ too shallow. In his view, spending cuts for their own sake were never the German style. In a conversation with The Corner, he explains that the effects of the minimum wage introduction in his country cannot be measured yet and why he thinks the German corporate governance model helped cushion the crisis’ labor market impact.

Christine Lagarde and Yanis Varoufakis

In Europe 10th April 2015

IMF squeezes Greece while pocketing the profits: €2.5 billion since 2010

MADRID | April 10, 2015 | By Ana Fuentes | Investors breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when Greece met its IMF loan commitment of €460 million euro ($485 million). Markets are predicting that Athens and its creditors will reach an agreement, which would put an end to the standoff which has developed since the Syriza government was elected earlier this year. Still, creditors are using the leverage provided by the country’s current cash shortage to force Athens to make major reforms. Meanwhile they are pocketing huge interest from the outstanding loans.

IOSCO Secretary General David Wright

Markets 26th March 2015

Markets supervisor: With its capital markets union Brussels is behind the curve

MADRID | March 26, 2015 | By Ana Fuentes | David Wright is charged with overseeing international securities regulators in his role as Secretary General for IOSCO. In an exclusive interview with The Corner, he speaks of the need for greater urgency in integrating global capital markets. He also notes that a failure to understand the changes taking place in global financial markets could be hindering economic growth.

capital requirements

In Europe 25th February 2015

Spanish banks may thrive in ECB capital requirements harmonisation

The Corner | February 25, 2015 | European banks will have to raise more and better quality capital to meet the single supervisor’s requirements, ECB’s Danièle Nouy warned on Tuesday, since the absence of a common regulation is one of the  industry’s main challenges. “That would be positive for Spanish banks since regulation in our country is one of the strictest in Europe,” experts at ACF commented.

No Picture

In Europe 18th February 2015

Greek crisis: The ECB to take the reins

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | The ECB will be the main actor in the Greek crisis today. The Governing Council of the Frankfurt-based institution is meeting not to discuss monetary policy but to decide whether it maintains the emergency liquidity assistance (ELA) to Greek banks, which is crucial so the country can stay in the euro club –something that, in spite of propaganda and short sellers, both Athens and Berlin desire.

inflationword

World economy 3rd February 2015

“Austerity, not lack of liquidity, is what is causing the Eurozone depression”

MADRID | By Ana Fuentes | She believes that central banks should act coordinately, since competition between them can cause currency distortions. British economist and former banker Frances Coppola has been one of the main critics of the European Central Bank’s QE “because it supports asset prices, but that is all it does.” She spoke to The Corner about shadow banking and how financials should be accepting and managing risk on both sides of the Atlantic.