Spain

Markets 18th September 2014

EBC’s first TLTRO misses expectations

MADRID | By Julia Pastor | As expected, ECB’s September TLTRO will not make big headlines. 255 European banks borrowed €82.6bn of liquidity below consensus estimate of €100-150bn. Although the Frankfurt-based institution doesn’t provide a geographical breakdown, banks in Italy and Spain were among the leading borrowers (40% of the total) to trim funding costs. Spanish entities are thought to have asked half of those €30bn at their disposal, although some entities “are not willing to disclose how much they asked for,” an ECB source confirmed to The Corner.

Markets 18th September 2014

Morning coffee: Scotland polls and TLTRO

MADRID | The Corner | FOMC’s conclusions (the Fed is renewing its pledge on low rates) meaning little changes to the current rates scenario, the spotlight has shifted to the Scottish independence referendum (final results to be released around 5:30-6:30 GMT on Friday), which is presumably going to have an impact on European financial markets today. Also the ECB is publishing the results of its much-awaited first TLTRO operation today. It’s the most important cheap cash offer from the central lender since the beginning of the economic crisis which has been very popular in Spain and Italy. Spanish banks will aim for €30bn, Economy Minister said on Wednesday.

Markets 17th September 2014

Is state backing mezzanine ABS worth it?

MADRID | By Julia Pastor | ECB’s upcoming ABS drive with senior, higher credit quality assets will be launched with or without guarantees from the states, that is for sure. The question is if countries will guarantee riskier tranches, the so-called mezzanine ABS. Spain is willing to do so if others go for it, yet Germany, France and the Netherlands are refusing. This makes sense since a state back up would mean to put assets with uneven exposure to bankruptcy on the same level. An eventual agreement would be a very difficult political decision. Details of the ABS plan will be announced after the central lender’s next monetary policy meeting on Oct. 2.

Markets 15th September 2014

Santander’s governance deficit

MADRID | By J.P. Marín Arrese | Only a few hours following the death of former Santander chief Emilio Botín, his daughter Ana Botín was thrust into the spotlight as his replacement. This offered further proof -if it were needed- of the firm grip on the Board of Directors which the family continues to hold. Its stake, reckoned to stand at less than 1%, has not prevented the swift transition from taking place.

In Europe 12th September 2014

Boosting growth is the only way of achieving fiscal consolidation

MADRID | By Luis Alcaide | In an op-ed at Wall Street Journal on Thursday, New EU Vice Commissioner Jyrki Katainen pledged for stimulating growth in the eurozone by keeping the proper fiscal consolidation. But his comment could be put in a different way: stimulating growth by all means as the only way of achieving fiscal consolidation. Stimulating growth means that deflation, a price level increase inferior to 2% (the Stability Pact target) is a more pressing requirement than meeting the 3% public deficit in the short term.

In Europe 12th September 2014

Spain and the Catalonian issue

MADRID | By Fernando G. Urbaneja | Hundreds of thousands of Catalonians marched for the third year in a row to claim their national sovereignty. The pro-independence way in Catalonia -which comes from a feeling more than a century old and from time to time strongly emerges to fight for its goal- is behind these demonstrations and tries to capitalize them.

Markets 11th September 2014

Spanish 3-month EPS hits new all-time high

MADRID | The Corner | The pace of Global net EPS revisions has declined in August to -6.9% from -0.6% in July, although it is more significant the 3-month net earnings revisions that has improved from -7.9% to -7.0%, according to Hugo Anaya in his comment for JP Morgan.

Interviews 10th September 2014

Ana Patricia Botin appointed Santander’s new chairman

MADRID | The Corner | Everything went by the book: after Spain’s largest bank Santander chairman Emilio Botin died on Wednesday, his daughter Ana Patricia Botín (53) was appointed to succeed him. Her long career in finance, closely supervised by his father, took her to the UK, where Santander bank gets 20% of its profits (Spain accounts for 14%). Britain’s third most powerful woman according to the BBC has now become Spain’s most influential in finance.

In Europe 9th September 2014

Housing prices rising in Spain only the peak of a huge non-sold stock iceberg

MADRID | Ana Fuentes | The first rise in Spain’s property prices since 2008 made big headlines on Monday. The government was proud to feed the press with some positive figures in order to illustrate its new recovery rethoric: 2Q housing prices increased by 0.8% on the year, compared with a 1.6% drop in annual terms in 1Q. But prices are going up… only for the few real estate actually being sold. What about the 600,000 properties in stock that banks are desperate to get rid of?

Spanish economy 9th September 2014

OECD to Spain: Reform your reforms

MADRID | The Corner | Monetary policy is practically exhausted, there is almost no room for fiscal manoeuver due to the excess of indebtment… the only possible move for Spain now is “reforming the reform,” as Barclays’ Alberto Vigil commented on Tuesday. The Paris-based think-tank, who as usual warned about the huge unemployment rate and the deflation risk on Monday, recommended increasing consumer, property, and green taxes, and reducing employer contributions to social security for less-skilled workers.

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