By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | It is only fair that banks being nationalised to save them from sheer collapse should follow a much restrictive pay policy on top executives and members of the board. After all, a huge amount of taxpayer money has been spent to fill the gaps derived from irresponsible management. The odd thing is that most culprits have already left the entities with their pockets…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Most Spanish financial analysts agree in their perception of Santander and BBVA as being favoured by the financial reform presented on Thursday by the minister of Economy Luis De Guindos. As a matter of fact, their quotes are gaining value. The reform has been received favourably, although some analysts are still cautious. On the one hand, Sabadell’s point out that “demand has increased, but…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The Spanish subsidiary of Siemens wants to transform Spain into the renewable energy provider for Central Europe. Spain is the European leader in green energy, specifically the number one in wind energy. In Europe, several countries have turned their back on nuclear energy, among them Germany, and are going to close their plants, and geopolitical instability due to the war for oil is already a…
MADRID | EP | Brazil is getting ready to host some of the greatest sport events in the world: the Football World Championship in 2014 and the Olympic Games in 2016. The modernisation of its airports for affairs of such extent means a very important investment effort for the country, so the president Dilma Rousseff has decided to privatise them. The Spanish construction companies have begun to take positions in…
LONDON | The London-based National Institute of Economic and Social Research on Friday put its baseline forecast for global growth on 3.5% for 2012. The NIESR gave next year a slightly higher growth rate probability of 4%. In both cases, the Institute assumes a downward revision of about 0.5 percentage point in each year compared to its last forecast. The NIESR warned that the financial instability resulting from the euro crisis, combined…
By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | The outline of the financial reform, announced yesterday on Thursday by the Spanish minister of Economy, fails to provide the clue of what the government is aiming at. To begin with, the picture we were presented was one of sheer disarray: big holes in the balance sheets covered with meagre provisions and not a single tender word for the financial system. One…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | BBVA earned 34.8% less compared to last year, not such a significant figure when compared to Deutsche Bank’s (the largest bank in Germany) decrease of 76%. Despite this reduction, Sabadell and Banesto analysts recognise that the Spanish bank’s 4Q’11 results are better than expected. The only downside is the PAT, which was below the market consensus estimates (PAT:-139mn euros vs.938.53mn euros in 4Q’10 and…
MADRID | Since December, the Spanish Treasury has had a series of successive successes in its debt offers, even exceeding their expectations in many of them. On Thursday, it happened again. The agency under the ministry of Economy and Competitiveness placed €4,560 million in bonds, the maximum planned, at more moderate rates than on the previous occasion according to data released by the Bank of Spain. Specifically, the Treasury placed…
By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The eventual coming out of green shoots within the dark scenery outlined by the world economy is well worth a mention. The analysts at the City of Madrid emphasise three good macroeconomic figures. Particularly, Santander refers in their analysis to Europe’s PMIs, which even in recessive zone at 48.8, compared to previous 46.9 of December, are standing at their highest mark in the last five…
By Luis Garicano, in London | NADA ES GRATIS (fedeablogs.net). A very brief and worrying observation that the media does not seem to have noticed: the IMF forecast of which the press this week has been constantly talking about and that predicts a decrease in the Spanish GDP of 1.7% does not include an additional fiscal adjustment due to the deviation of the 2011 deficit. That is to say, if the deficit…