MADRID | No one expected the Rome gathering to produce a comprehensive answer to the euro’s acute problems. Divergences still run high between Germany and France on the right approach to take. Avoiding the impression other partners might be faced with a ready cooked solution in the forthcoming Summit, also invited to adopt a self-restrained attitude. So leaders from the four leading economies in the euro area choose to come…
By Luis Arroyo, in Madrid | The results of those independent audits over the Spanish banking sector have come to be summarised in one line, that banks would need up to €62 billion if the economy took a turn for the worst. Now, the published opinion in the country is terribly divided, as it was expected between the optimists and pessimists. To some extent, we cannot exactly be hopeful. There…
MADRID | The relaxed atmosphere in a seaside resort has undoubtedly helped coming to terms with a number of common sense goals. But delivery might prove more gruelling than expected. You don’t need to cross the Atlantic and be lectured by President Obama to concede that unwinding the feedback between financial and sovereign risks stands as a key requirement. Or to accept that current Spanish and Italian risk premium should be…
By Tania Suárez, in Madrid | The Italian banking system is, too, in the spotlight. Experts at Morgan Stanley consider that the problems of the Italian banking sector are not comparable to the Spanish banking, although there are important risks to take into account. These analysts recommend taking a cautious stand if there isn’t a coordinated solution at European level. In that sense, they reduce to neutral their recommendation for…
By Nuño Rodrigo | www.cincodias.com | It is remarkable the swiftness with which the markets have amortised the bailout plan for the Spanish banking sector. But it is no surprise; the markets have their own stimulus, reward and learning mechanisms, and when an event appears repeatedly, the process rolls out ever quicker. The Greek bailout anaesthetised the markets for some months; the Irish did the same for some weeks; the…
Helga Jung is the first woman to enter the board of Allianz, the largest insurance pool in the world, in the center of German finance. The group became Allianz Societas Europaea (SE) in 2006. With more than 78 million customers, 142,000 employees and a global presence in 70 countries, Allianz obtained an operating income of €7.9 billion in 2011. Its assets under third parties management are of €1.281 billion. What risks…
MADRID | All of the sudden, the feeling things might be spinning out of control has cast a gloomy mood in Spain. For a country lavishly living on others savings, finding itself short of cash has come as a shock-horror revelation. It now faces the unsparing rigour of lying in the hands of fickle and merciless markets. The deep-rooted assumption that confidence gap would be bridged as soon as the…
What To Say Through Text To Get Your Ev Back By valenciaplaza.com, in Valencia | José Carrasco is private banking director at Banco Madrid in Valencia. Carrasco believes the European Central Bank buying Spanish bonds would reassure investors and negative headlines would then recede allowing foreign capital to go back to the country's market, where good value still abounds. What is your view on the European stock markets? With France…
how do you get your best friend to break up with your ex LONDON | Now that the European banks have again been placed in the eye of the storm, even though admittedly some more than others, a chart from BNP Paribas analysts shows why. Banks still pose a barrier at the core of most efforts towards recovery. Take the long-term refinancing operations or LTROs from the European Central Bank: they are meant to…
WASHINGTON | “Capitalism without failure is like religion without sin, it does not work,” had already said Allan Meltzer in 1969. Pittsburgh's Carnegie-Mellon University teacher and author of the monumental History of the Federal Reserve is the same conservative who advised John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Under Clinton's presidency he was in charge of a U.S. Congress committee that essentially claimed the end of the World Bank on the basis…