Top Stories

Articles by The Corner

About the Author

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.
españa recurso1 TC

Spanish economy 29th October 2014

Spain climbs 20 positions in Doing Business ranking

MADRID | The Corner | The Spanish economy is now placed  number 33 among the World Bank’s 2015 Doing Business ranking, improving on last year´s placement of 52. The results of the report show that Spain now offers greater facilities for entrepreneurs. Spain has improved in four of the ten regulation areas that value the ease of doing business, and has improved from 72.24 points to 73.17,  closer to the 100 total, which measures best global practices regarding business regulation.

No Picture

In Europe 29th October 2014

No `serious` fault found, France, Italy 2015 budgets pass EU review

MADRID | The Corner | The European Commission said on Tuesday it had found no serious fault with eurozone member states’ 2015 budget plans, clearing France and Italy after they made last-minute changes to meet EU demands. The budget review covered all 18 eurozone countries, with the focus on struggling France and Italy after Brussels told them that their original plans fell well short of what was required to meet European Union norms.

doble irlandes TC

In Europe 28th October 2014

Double Irish: Berlin gets tough on global firms, but what about Dublin?

MADRID | By Sean Duffy | Wednesday’s meeting in Berlin, hosted by German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble, will once again throw the issue surrounding the taxation of large corporations into the spotlight. The meeting, to be attended by delegates from over 50 countries, is seen as the next step in a concerted effort by governments worldwide to close exploitative tax loopholes which have been a favoured accounting tool for international firms operating in Europe.

No Picture

Spanish economy 28th October 2014

On the path to normalizing the credit market

MADRID | The Corner | The Spanish Confederation of  Small- and Medium-Sized Companies (CEPYME) points to a “nascent trend” towards a normalization of  credit markets, which will permeate down to the real economy over the course of next year. 

 

No Picture

Markets 28th October 2014

EZ private loans: Depressed… yet stabilising

MADRID | The Corner | Loans to the private sector in the euro area fell by 1.2% year-on-year in September, according to the ECB’s data,  a slower rate than the 1.5% decline seen in August.  Are there reasons for optimism? It depends.  “After seven years of crisis, bank loans continue to fall. Those to the private sector have fallen by -0.6% yoy. Loans to non-financial businesses dropped by -1.8%, with Spain and Ireland especially weak,” Barclay’s Alberto Vigil pointed out. “Now if you want  to look through a different glass (loans’ reduction is slowing down), the opposite interpretation is also perfectly correct,” he added.

 

No Picture

Markets 28th October 2014

Investors to remain dovish until the end of FOMC’s meeting

MADRID | The Corner | Investors experienced the ECB’s stress tests hangover and were quite dovish throughout the Monday’s session. Apparently Tuesday won’t be any different and they will remain prudent until Wednesday, when the FOMC releases its conclusions. Markets expect the Fed to finish tapering, as well as an interest rates hike, experts at Link commented.

greece privatisation

In Europe 27th October 2014

The arduous road of privatisation in Greece

ATHENS | By Jens Bastian via MacroPolis | Why is the process of privatization in Greece fraught with political controversies, a lack of public support in large parts of Greek society and subject to ever-increasing administrative delays and judicial objections? 

central banks balance sheet

Markets 27th October 2014

ECB bond purchases won’t be enough to reach €1Tr expansion

MADRID | The Corner | Regarding the corporate bond purchases by the European Central Bank, market watchers at Barclays consider that it won’t be enough to expand the balance sheet by €1trillion. Expert Alberto Vigil notes that, since investors are already buying corporate bonds, it doesn’t make much sense for the ECB to also purchase them, especially given the fact that asset risks are not exactly cheap. (Graph by Bruegel)

No Picture

Spanish economy 26th October 2014

Spanish banks pass most stringent stress tests to date with no capital shortfalls

MADRID | The Corner | The ECB did not find any capital shortfall in the Spanish banks, which all passed the highly awaited central bank’s stress tests. Results made public on Sunday reveal that 25 European lenders failed while the other 105 succeeded. Among the big fish only the Italian Monte dei Paschi, the world’s oldest, appears in the failure list. Those 25 European entities will have to face €24.6 billion capital shortfall, but considering 13 of them have already issued part ot these capital needs, they will only reach €9 billion.