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.
ATHENS | By Manos Giakoumis via Macropolis| The Hellenic Financial Stability Fund (HFSF) said on April 15 it approved the 1.33-billion-euro offer submitted by a consortium of investors for Eurobank’s capital increase. The approval signals the completion of the first phase covering 46.5 percent of the announced equity raising of 2.86 billion euros.
BERLIN | By Alberto Lozano | The upcoming EU elections (May 22-25) arrive in a moment of enormous challenges for the Union. What happens in the next months can change definitely the political and economic landscape. Again, Germany plays the main role with its 67 million of voters and the two ‘frontrunners’ supported by the two big parties from the German Coalition. However, 72% of its citizens have low or no interest in the polls.
BARCELONA | By Joan Tapia | Optimism over Spanish recovery should be refined. The so much discussed but effective economic management of Spain’s government is not well transferred to political confidence. As citizens place their political confidence at 29.5 points against 29.9 points of trust in the economy, businessmen have gone in terms of political confidence from a poor 2.16 to another poor 2.33.
OP-ED By Julia Pastor | Spaniards disaffection with monarchy sank to lowest levels in 2013 after several embarrassments and corruption scandals affecting the Royal Family. But as King Juan Carlos wraps up his 6th visit to UAE on Wednesday, Spanish media of all political signs are sticking to his diplomatic role. The monarch is seeking to open doors for Spanish infrastructure companies. Only Abu Dhabi’s subway is to raise €8 bn.
MADRID | J. P. Marín Arrese | Both the main economic institutions and think tanks cast a gloomy forecast on Europe. The IMF leads the way, advocating for swift action to revamp an ailing growth performance. Its blatant U-turn has drawn scarce criticism. Not so long ago, it endorsed hawkish views on the need to implement full-fledged austerity, no matter the cost, thus contributing to trigger the rotten conditions it now reviles.
ATHENS |By Jens Bastian via Macropolis| The first Greek bond since 2010 was characterized by a particularly striking mismatch between the demand and supply side. More than 85 percent of those pension funds, private equity firms, asset managers and hedge funds – primarily from the US and the UK – who placed buy orders in the book-building process were left with portfolios devoid of Greek debt.What does this mismatch tell us? Clearly, this was not a coincidence. Rather, it speaks volumes of a well-orchestrated bond placement, where the sale volume was not the primary objective for the Greek Public Debt Management Agency.
MADRID | By The Corner | The European Parliament is giving green light to the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) this week for ailing banks as well as the €55 bn fund to finance bankrupcies and restructurings. Amid claims that the Euro zone’s banking sector is now safer and better supervised, some international lawmakers point out that banks are still weakly capitalized. “Europe should be careful no to make promises that it won’t be able to hold afterwards,” they say.
OP ED by Julia Pastor | Brussels welcomed Spain’s economy timid comeback to the path of growth in 4Q13. When some financial publications wonder who saved the country, they quote Draghi’s OMT as well as the internal devaluation followed to PM Mariano Rajoy’s reforms. They do not mention, however, that due to internal devaluation Spaniards have seen their salaries cut by an average of 10%, and 27% of household depends on retired people pensions, who are even assuming mortgage loans their kids can’t pay anymore.
MADRID | By Álex García.