MADRID | For all the efforts they undertake to reinforce their solvency and profitability, troubled banks are not likely to survive unless they merge into solid groups. But economist JP Marín Arrese wonders if public money to maintain them artificially alive should not be entitled to a better use.
Spanish current account data gives signs of economic strength, but the global economy suffers from too much weak activity, a clear threat to Madrid’s reform efforts. Talk of bailout will not go away any time soon.
Large institutional investors such as Pimco have publicly acknowledged their interest in Spanish debt, precisely because of the ECB buying program, but it remains to be seen whether the foreign interest is consolidated.
Although German banks’ regulatory capitalisation hardly makes news, the latest report on the industry by risk qualification agency Moody’s points at high leverage and exposures worth noting down.
Oil prices fell below 110 dollars per barrel and are lower than last year’s levels. Watch Saudi Arabia and Iran, though, note CaixaBank analysts.
MADRID | The European economy desperately seeks ways to boost its recovery. Could it be so simple as to get a weaker euro, after all? wonders economist JP Marín Arrese.
Non-resident investors have extended the maturities of their holdings of Spanish debt, according to the August data released by the Bank of Spain.
MADRID | As France pushed for in the last euro summit, the EU-wide banking supervisor would be set up by 2013. But its work will not begin until after Germany’s elections in the second half of the next year, and direct bank recapitalisation is out of the table, again. Ms Merkel was the real winner.
LONDON | Changes over core capital reserves would have turned British banks less transparent about their actual financial stand, JP Morgan analysts alert. Also, growing risk of impending payouts because of mis-sold payment protection insurance could affect their stock price sooner than later.
The day a new EU summit began, financial reports from Madrid poured in with a common alert: the Spanish economy needs fixing and the markets will keep watching how the Rajoy government’s reforms advance.