Articles by Victor Jimenez

About the Author

Victor Jimenez
London contributor at thecorner.eu, reporting about the City and the Eurozone economies. He regularly writes for Spanish newspaper group Prensa Ibérica--some of his features include shared work with journalists of The Daily Telegraph and the BBC.
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UK: Have you heard about the new Scottish financial City?

LONDON | By Víctor Jiménez | The financial services industry in Scotland is more than twice as large as that of the rest of the UK when compared to the gross domestic product. But where the unionism points out an unaffordable risk, some analysts see an opportunity. (Image: The first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond by Robert Perry/EPA)


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The mirage of the British economy

LONDON | By Víctor Jiménez | The image of the Bank of England’s monetary policy Committee, which met in early July to not issue any decision on interest rates, was at the same time historic and false.


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UK: Balance sheets and the power of the mass

LONDON- THE WEEK THAT WAS | By Víctor Jiménez | Thrilling? Not exactly. Unless you file accounts for a rogue large company, the rabbit out of the top hat the Financial Reporting Council pulled this week should have left a too familiar, dull sight printed on the retina: the watchdog suggested a named-and-shamed punishment for both public and private companies whose reporting standards fall below legal requirements. Duh.


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British economy: in construction

LONDON- THE WEEK THAT WAS | By Víctor Jiménez | One in five homes built in the UK since last April have ended sold through the program Help to Buy, according to the largest stock market listed estate agent in the UK, Countrywide. This figure shots up to more than 50% in northern England where the housing sector had fallen into a deeper recession than elsewhere. In London, a resilient spot, one in ten homes have seen contracts exchanged following the heavy but comforting hand of the state.

 


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How Weidmann confounded currency market investors

LONDON- THE WEEK THAT WAS | By Victor Jiménez | Did Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann just had a Mario Draghi-like moment? In July 2012, while bets against the survival of the Eurozone community of countries remaining whole piled up to stress levels that presaged a self-fulfilling prophesy, the president of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, let go in his now famous London speech a “we’ll do whatever it takes” to protect the common currency whose deterrent consequences have rippled to today: we might be messy, the message conveyed by Draghi came to mean in the British City and Wall Street, but we know how to make the anti-euro speculative bubble burst; and it is an easy thing to do.


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The British Budget that was

THE WEEK FROM LONDON | By Victor Jiménez | “Preposterous!,” said –wait for it, yes– minister for Education Michael Gove, who found this remote Latin-built-in word the perfect match to describe most of the cabinet to which he belongs. He might have intended to upset colleagues without letting the rest of the country understand… 


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The Greek crisis we don’t see

ATHENS | By Nick Maltkouzis | The social cost of the crisis in Greece is often hidden from visitors and casual observers. In fact if one excludes some parts of Athens and other big cities, the signs of the crisis are not always that visible. However, an increasing amount of Greeks are finding themselves socially excluded. According to the latest figures from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), 34.6 percent of the population was considered to be living at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2012, the highest proportion in the European Unión.


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Inmigrants!

LONDON | By Víctor Jiménez | According to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Kingdom’s public balance sheet deficit would be even more unpleasant, exactly GBP 16 billion (€19.1 billion) uglier had the country no such ability to attract people from the rest of planet.


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Today’s Talk Of The Market In Spain

MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban |  Action from the ECB to favor growth and liquidity would be welcomed  in the euro zone, where GDP boosted by 0.2 % in 4Q13 after dropping by -0.3% in the prior term. Meanwhile, Sacyr will contribute €30 more million  in guarantees to wrap up agreement in Panama and airline Iberia gets to balance offer and demand. Finally, Ibex 35 appreciated by 1.96 % in February and by 1.99 % year-to-date, according to our exclusive market consensus Consenso del Mercado.


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How much money will Bernanke receive as advance for his book?

SAO PAOLO | By Marcus Nunes | Let´s see. For his memoirs as Fed Chairman Greenspan pocketed 8 million from Penguin. Given PCE inflation Bernanke should get at least 9 million from the same editor. But Bernanke´s book is worth more. Greenspan presided over the Great Moderation. Great Moderations don´t give rise to dramas as does a Great Recession (Lesser Depression).