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Spanish economy 7th December 2011

Mariano Rajoy’s first taste of being the next president of Spain

MADRID | The Spanish press on Wednesday published reports of the newly elected Spanish President Mariano Rajoy’s trip to Marseille, where he will meet with US Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and then, later on, jointly with French president Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Rajoy will also have the opportunity to meet with the president of the European Commission Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, and with the Polish…

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Markets 2nd December 2011

RBS’ Mariano Aldama: “Spain’s new government can bring back markets’ trust”

Mariano Aldama of the Royal Bank of Scotland and responsible for capital market origination for financial institutions in Spain and Portugal, has given an interview to the business daily Cinco Días in which he admits that, despite the critical situation of Spain because of excessive financing costs, it is possible to restore market confidence. We offer an excerpt of the interview. How long can the banking system resist without financing itself? The rejection in the markets can not last much longer but first there are pieces of the puzzle that…

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In Europe 29th November 2011

Spain could raise €200mn from the wealthy’s Swiss accounts

Digital news website El Confidencial on Tuesday published an article about the effect the so-called Rubik Plan would have on the Spanish budget. This is a bilateral agreement to lift banking secrecy in Switzerland, which would allow hidden account holders in the country to pay taxes anonymously in Spain. The conclusion of experts is clear: the amount collected thanks to this measure would barely exceed €200 million, a somewhat tiny…

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Spanish economy 28th November 2011

Distressed assets investors head to Spain for restructuring plans

Rumours of a super-toxic bank have been building up in Spain ever since the conservative People’s Party won the country’s general election by landslide. According to last weekend’s Bloomberg reports, “Spanish Prime Minister-elect Mariano Rajoy has asked for at least two papers from academics on how to create a so-called bad bank, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. “Both proposals outline mechanisms for a state-backed agency to buy soured assets…

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Markets 23rd November 2011

Barclays: “Those who believe Spain is highly leveraged should think twice”

MADRID | On Wednesday, the markets gave some credence to the possibility of reviving the Eurobond, but once again this option ended up hitting what Barclays describes (our emphasis) as “the wall which Merkel and Germany have turned themselves into. It is clear that in order to launch a Eurobond, the governance system in the euro zone has to improve, and not only that, it will also need a reform…