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The Corner
The Corner has a team of on-the-ground reporters in capital cities ranging from New York to Beijing. Their stories are edited by the teams at the Spanish magazine Consejeros (for members of companies’ boards of directors) and at the stock market news site Consenso Del Mercado (market consensus). They have worked in economics and communication for over 25 years.
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Markets 26th July 2012

Moody’s grades 17 German banks with negative outlook

Moody’s investors service said Thursday it had changed to negative the outlooks of 17 German banking groups and several subsidiaries. The decision affected their long-term debt and deposit ratings or their long-term guaranteed debt obligations, whose ratings incorporate support from the German government or several German federal states or municipalities. Moody’s explained the update of outlooks was the consequence of German sovereign and sub-sovereign ratings having been graded to negative from…

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Markets 26th July 2012

Spanish real estate exposure halves Santander profits

MADRID | Banco Santander announced Thursday a net attributable profit of €1.704 billion in the first half of the year. The figure brings a cut down of about 51% compared with the same period in 2011. The Spanish bank pointed out that the decline is a result of setting aside €1.304 billion for provisions for real estate exposure in Spain of the second quarter ordinary profit of €1.404 billion. As a…

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Markets 26th July 2012

Stock markets only dodged adversity

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | Although the first half of the year has ended with a negative balance for most international stock markets, the latest months has been characterised by a relative improvement in indices. The reduction in fears that Greece will leave the euro and the euro area’s assistance in recapitalising Spain’s banking system marked a turning point in the trend for investors’ appetite for risk. Although…

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Spanish economy 25th July 2012

The chart of the Spanish regions’ debt

MADRID | The chain of default warnings is getting larger. If the regions of Murcia and Catalonia confirm they need help from the €18-billion central fund to repay its debt maturities, as Valencia explicitly did on July 20, the autonomous bailout would reach so far €7.7 billion. Of them, €6 billion could be made available with almost immediate effect, as Loterías del Estado would be the lender. The regions’ short-term…

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Companies 25th July 2012

Spain’s Bankia sells €800-million failed loan portfolio

MADRID | BFA-Bankia Group said Tuesday it had closed ‘Operation Hispania’, disposing of a large portfolio of failed loans. The deal involves a total of €800 million. The Spanish troubled bank, which is in need of a multi-billion public capital to maintain its activity, sold the loans to two north European investment funds. They are Aktiv Kapital in Norway and Oko Investments in Luxembourg. The operation has been structured in two…

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World economy 25th July 2012

The United States: diminishing growth

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | The US economy is leaving behind its vigorous start to the year and is on way to a weaker scenario than the consensus had expected at the end of April, after the publication of the gross domestic product (GDP) flash estimate for the first quarter. The main reason for this weaker tone lies in the loss of dynamism in the labour market’s recovery….

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Spanish economy 24th July 2012

It’s sunny over Spain’s hotel industry

MADRID | The hotel sector in Spain has released its June data. It’s mainly positive news, in line with the optimistic expectations of the financial City of Madrid and efforts of the industry to reactivate the domestic demand without missing foreign tourist interest. Year on year, tourist visit rate increased by 4.7 percent to six million. Accumulated growth in the first half of 2012 was of 2.9 percent to 25.1…

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Markets 24th July 2012

Euro area government debt rose to 88.2% of GDP in first three months of 2012

At the end of the first quarter of 2012, the government debt to GDP ratio in the euro area stood at 88.2%, compared with 87.3% at the end of the fourth quarter of 2011. Eurostat said that in the EU the ratio increased from 82.5% to 83.4%. Compared with the first quarter of 2011, the government debt to GDP ratio rose in both the euro area (from 86.2%) and the EU (from 80.4%). At…

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Markets 23rd July 2012

The UK financial reality index sees no recovery yet

LONDON | The slight, although gladly acknowledged, fall in unemployment in the UK caused an improvement of the economic background rate from 63.4 to 65.3. It has been the only positive news released Monday by Alliance Trust, whose UK financial reality index noted a deterioration in households' financial situation during the second quarter of this year. In any case, the number being below 100 signals trouble, and it has been…

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Interviews 23rd July 2012

“In Spain, we shouldn’t have bailed out the bankers who sank their entities”

By Cruz Sierra, in Valencia | valenciaplaza.com | Bad timing. It must feel at least challenging to become chairman of the employers' association Cierval in the region of Valencia. The autonomous government recently asked Madrid for help to face its debts, while Madrid itself negotiates in Brussels softer deficit targets and the conditions of a banking bailout for the country's financial industry. José Vicente González said in an interview with VP that…