LONDON | July 16, 2015 | Barclays | The Greek parliament passed a package of measures as part of its bailout agreement, with the focus now shifting to whether the ECB raises the ELA ceiling. The Governing Council meeting is also scheduled for today, and we expect the press conference to be focused on Greece.
LONDON | June 30, 2015 | BNP | On Tuesday the bailout programme expires and Greece is due to make a payment of EUR1.5bn to the IMF. Both important events. However given that the ECB has already capped the ELA ceiling, we don’t expect any further significant measures against the banks.
MADRID | May 11, 2015 | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | During the crisis, the Spanish state committed over € 50 billion to the country’s banks. Up to now it has recovered € 4 billion.
MADRID | April 10, 2015 | By Ana Fuentes | Investors breathed a sigh of relief on Thursday when Greece met its IMF loan commitment of €460 million euro ($485 million). Markets are predicting that Athens and its creditors will reach an agreement, which would put an end to the standoff which has developed since the Syriza government was elected earlier this year. Still, creditors are using the leverage provided by the country’s current cash shortage to force Athens to make major reforms. Meanwhile they are pocketing huge interest from the outstanding loans.
MADRID | The Corner | February 25, 2015 | Spanish telecom giant Telefonica reported a drop of 34.7% in net profit, although investors celebrated revenue picture brightening up. Elsewhere, the Spanish Producer Price Index falls again, registering a drop of 2.8% for January.
MADRID | By J.P. Marín Arrese | The Spanish Justice Department has launched a thorough investigation into the accounts which were submitted prior to the original BANKIA share issuance back in 2011. Experts from the Bank of Spain have delivered a devastating report implying these accounts did not provide a fair elucidation of the balance sheet. Should the final ruling follow that line, it could open the way for multi-billion euro claims from investors. Even though BANKIA has announced it can cope with such losses, with taxpayers footing two-thirds of the bill, the impact on Spanish financial market credibility could wreak havoc.
ATHENS | By Nick Malkoutzis via MacroPolis | Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras is following a well-trodden route by trying to force early elections over the presidential ballot. Several others before him have tried to exploit the loophole in the Greek constitution which means that snap polls have to be held if 180 MPs cannot be found to back a presidential candidate. The most recent opposition leader to follow this tactic was PASOK’s George Papandreou in 2009.
MADRID | By Sean Duffy | The Irish Government presented its budget on Tuesday, keen to present the announcement of its projections for the year 2015 as the successful consequence of prudent fiscal planning. Critics have pointed out that it is much of the same, yet with the economic picture improving, the Government has sought to offer a respite from austerity, whilst also attempting to address the outstanding concerns of its international partners.
BRUSSELS | By Alexandre Mato | EU finance ministers are meeting in Milan on Friday to focus on Ireland, Greece and Cyprus exit plan to leave their IMF-EU financial assistance programs. The much-needed debate about economic stimulus and growth is not on the agenda, nor will be Scotland, despite the thorny economic implications of an eventual yes vote in the upcoming referendum.
MADRID | By The Corner | In its first surveillance report after the Spanish banking sector bailout, the EC believes that entities are stronger and cleaner. Even if NPLs ratio has not stabilized, banks “are shifting towards more stable funding, such as deposits, and are relying less on borrowing from the Eurosystem.” As market access conditions have greatly improved, Brussels Spain’s return to positive economic growth (using February data, when growth estimates for 2014 were 1% instead of 1.1%) and was positive about the labour market slight improvement, although it warned that jobless rate remains very high (26% 2Q13). Brussels considers that unless further austerity measures are adopted the crisis-battered country won’t meet its deficit goals.