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Markets 8th February 2012

Spanish companies welcomed again by the markets and foreign investors

By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Thanks to the current environment of improved trust and confidence levels, Spanish companies and banks have reopened the primary market. Santander was the first one, followed by Sabadell, BBVA, Banesto and Telefónica. Repsol and Ferrovial joined to this debt issuing, and it is expected that Pescanova will be the next one. Some experts see the European Central Bank’s open bar of liquidity, together with…

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Markets 7th February 2012

Santander, BBVA and Caixabank need €13.28 in extra provisions

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Last week, Rajoy’s government passed a Royal Decree, which forced all the Spanish financial entities to provision a total amount of €50bn to cover the losses coming from the property boom effect. But banks had not yet calculated their corresponding piece of the cake. On Tuesday, the three biggest Spanish entities, Santander, BBVA and Caixabank, communicated to the supervisor body –the Spanish Securities Market Commission– the…

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Markets 3rd February 2012

The financial City of Madrid supports De Guindos’ plan

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…

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Markets 3rd February 2012

Mild recession but EMU intact, says NIESR

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…

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Markets 2nd February 2012

Eurocomparisons: BBVA profits fell by 34.8%; Deutsche Bank’s by 76%

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…

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Markets 2nd February 2012

Plans to force mergers in Spanish banks might backfire

[UPDATE] By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Spain | The Spanish government will disclose on Friday its plans for a massive clean-up in mortgage-backed bad loans from banking balance sheets. This move is indeed highly welcome so long this overhaul doesn’t push too far eating all resources at hand. Once a €50 billion adjustment has been announced, markets will only settle for a substantially higher figure. In many cases, meeting such…

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Markets 1st February 2012

Desperate British bankers and the knighthood raiders

LONDON | Who in Britain would place faith in the good nature of bankers? While Wednesday afternoon the House of Commons played volleyball blaming either Labour opposition or the Conservative-led Coalition cabinet for the bonus pool available to top Royal Bank of Scotland 83pc-public workers (remember the €45 billion taxpayer bailout), how lonely Commerzbank’s chairman Martin Blessing must have felt. Mr Blessing told a London court on Monday that most of his…

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Markets 31st January 2012

Zero hedge, but tons of garbage

WASHINGTON | Since it started, in January 2009, Zero Hedge has marked a new style in financial journalism. It is anonymous, and its main ‘writer’, Tyler Durden, is a character from a movie. It has an encrypted email system, so anonymous sources can send allegedly confidential documents. Its reputation among investors and regulators is more than dubious, but its popularity is beyond doubt. Its Twitter account, which portrays the bloodied…

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Markets 31st January 2012

Santander’s Botín to Spanish banks: it can be done, good results and provisions

By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | Banco Santander’s 4Q11 results are better than expected: it has registered attributable net profit of €5.351 billion, down 35%, after extraordinary provisions of €3.183 billion. According to Sabadell’s analysts, Santander “has achieved better results in the UK than expected, despite having suffered the negative effects of the new UK liquidity regulation.” Santander has noted important expenses (€3.180bn) with its property portfolio, with its Portuguese…