By Shinichiro Kadota, Tal Shapsa at Barclays | March 23, 2015 | Japan’s Flow of Funds data show that Japanese investors continued to rebalance their portfolio away from domestic bonds into foreign assets in Q4 14, while their flows into domestic equities were more muted. Such dynamics were evident throughout 2014, as Japanese investors accumulated foreign assets at a solid pace.
LONDON | Guest comment by Barclays | The financial success of Sabadell’s offer to acquire TSB hinges on its ability to cut TSB’s costs by 20% almost exclusively by migrating it onto a new IT platform, in our view. This looks a challenging aspiration to us and while Sabadell has successfully integrated domestic Spanish acquisitions at some speed, cross-border integration onto the Spanish platform is largely untested and faces the challenges of a different regulatory framework and different product design. It clearly helps that Lloyds will pay for the integration spend but we believe that meeting the near-term target of EPS neutrality will require a relatively quick delivery of the cost savings.
MADRID | March 23, 2015 | By Sean Duffy | Unemployment levels in the region are the highest in Spain. The winning socialist party has been involved in serious corruption cases, yet it managed to kick off a year of crucial elections in the country by holding on to the territory they have governed for 35 years.
The Corner | March 23, 2015 | Mario Draghi’s speech will be in focus as traders seek further information on the effect the ECB’s QE programme is having. This week is likely to see strong growth figures posted in the US, while inflation in the eurozone will continue to languish. Greece will again be under the microscope on international markets, as direct talks between leader Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel finally get under way.
The US-based Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life predicts that over the next two decades, Muslims will make up 26.4% of the world’s population of 8.3 billion people. This means that the worldwide Muslim population will have grown by 25% at the end of 2030. However, while the population of Muslims in the West is growing, a fear of Islam as an ideology is increasing. This has sometimes resulted in aggressive and discriminatory measures against Muslims, which compels some scholars and thinkers to warn against the rise of “Islamophobia.”
A fourth wave of Chinese investors keen to explore growth opportunities is emerging, according to a recent report from the consultancy firm Knight Frank. And experts predict that the trend will grow further in the coming years, fostering greater synergies between Chinese real estate agents and overseas Chinese investors. The goals and strategies of this new investor are more diversified; with a special focus in new and secondary markets, and away from major cities such as London, New York. Countries like Spain and Portugal are able to provide additional perks, such as programmes through which investors can obtain residence permits.
The Corner | March 20, 2015 | ACF experts believe that “the impact of the acquisition of TSB in earnings per share would be marginally negative in 2015 and 2016, but -5.7% in 2017 if a new synergy plan is not presented.”
March 20, 2015 | By Wolfango Piccoli via MacroPolis | The Greek government faces a dire financial situation in the coming weeks, especially as lenders are unlikely to relent on the conditions of last month’s loan extension.
The Corner | March 20, 2015 | There may be some volatility on European markets in the day ahead, as late night talks between the Greeek government and members of creditor nations, the European Commission and the European Central Bank failed to unlock funds for Athens’ faltering economy.
BEIJING| March 19, 2015 | By Joseph S. Nye Jr. via Caixin | The country offers a large and attractive market, but reforms are needed to better develop trade and financial markets and spur innovation.