100 posts
European Venture Capital Funds in tax havens
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We have the (first) Single Market Act (SMA I) COM(2011) 206 (in 22 EU languages, in English), the background blog entry European Council and Single Market Act I and the report from the EU Commission to the European Council 18-19 October 2012 about th...
Europeiska riskkapitalfonder i skatteparadis
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Som bakgrund har vi (den första) inremarknadsakten KOM(2011) 206, blogginlägget European Council and Single Market Act I och EU-kommissionens rapport till Europeiska rådet den 18-19 oktober 2012 om genomförandet av tillväxt- och sysselsättnings...
Stocks And Commodities Trade Lower On The Exhaustion Of The World Central Banks’ Monetary Authority And Inability To Stimulate Global Trade … Greeks Strike In Front Of Likely Parliament Approval Of Troika’s Third Austerity Vote … Hollande Lurches Right A
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Financial market report for Monday November 5, 2012 Introduction Finviz charts show Stocks, VT, and Commodities, DBC, trade lower on exhaustion of the world central banks’ monetary authority, and on inability to stimulate global trade and their ina...
Fitch Finds a Tough Crowd in Ankara
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Turkey’s credit rating just got a long sought-after bump up to investment-grade, but the ratings firms still won’t get any love from the government.
Romania’s Monetary Policy in Federal Europe
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Sometimes monetary policy and federalism can interact in interesting ways. To grasp a particular relation, such as that of Romania in the European Union, it is first necessary to keep in mind that monetary policy is not federalism and vice versa. An...
Stability bonds (Eurobonds)
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The euro area sovereign debt crisis has revived the debate on the common issuance of sovereign bonds in the eurozone. The introduction of such stability bonds (or Eurobonds) is seen by some policy makers and experts as a solution to the crisis. It wo...
Polish Banks Seen Tightening Credit
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The Polish central bank expects the country's commercial banks to tighten lending conditions further for consumers and businesses in the fourth quarter because of a deterioration in both the economic outlook and their portfolios.
Clearinghouses Profit as Too Big To Fail
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According to Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times, “failing to confront the too-big-to-fail question is a serious oversight.” Lest it be assumed that the financial reform law passed in 2010 after the financial crisis of 2008 makes it less pro...
Russian Bourse Considers Adding Eggs to Its Basket
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Market players in Russia may soon be able to turn to a St. Petersburg bourse to dabble in a different kind of trade: hen-egg futures.
Turkey’s Erdogan Hints at ‘Lira Zone’
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Turkish news outlets are fizzing with debate about the possibility of a lira currency zone, following an ambiguous comment from Turkey’s outspoken Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
No Time for SNB to Rest on Its Laurels
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The Swiss National Bank can't afford to relax, writes columnist Nicholas Hastings.
What Links the Euro and Chinese Rates?
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Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch have unearthed a real left-field connection, writes columnist David Cottle. They say the monthly, rolling correlation between five-year Chinese swap rates and the EUR/USD pair has jumped to 83% between 2011 a...
Swiss and German Economic Indicators, Update November 1
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Euro Crisis Has Affected Germany, Switzerland Still Immune Most Recent Events The Swiss SVME PMI has risen from 43.9 to 46.1. This PMI that is dominated by machinery exporters. As opposed to the chemical industry, they were not innovative e...
Romania to Sell Bonds With New Euro Deal
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Romania is seeking to raise funds in the European bond market with its first new euro deal since June last year, in a transaction likely to cost the country only slightly more than what Spain is paying for debt of a similar maturity.
Barclays Bank speculation (Prowse and Rubinstein strike again)
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While the bank were fined £290m for manipulating LIBOR rates, they can sleep easy having trousered a whopping £500m through food commodity speculation. Good to see Revolution Will Be Televised stars Heydon Prowse and Jolyon Rubinstein having yet mo...
The good old days – when banking was simpler… for some
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Many argue that the banking system no longer has integrity and reminisce of past times when the banks were everyone’s old reliable; you pop into your local bank for some friendly advice and a cup of tea. Well, you could if you had sufficient funds...
Chart of the week: Funding costs are coming down
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Authors: Carlos De Sousa, Guntram B. WolffAt the end of July when sovereign yields of the troubled euro area economies were reaching a peak, we highlighted in a chart of the week the Emergency on funding costs for sovereigns, financial and non-financ...
EU Banking Union squeezed by Franco-German interests
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After the European summit of 18-19 October a two-folded conclusion can be drawn: the European banking union has been put forward and nations' interests still diverge. After a night of discussion, as usual at these summit, European leaders agreed to e...
Germany Restricts High-Frequency Trading, Chicago Fed Recommends Same
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WSJ Article: Germany to Tap Brakes on High Frequency TradingNYT Article: Germany Act to Increase Limits on High Speed TradesLate last month, New York Times and WSJ reported on Germany's intention to restrict High Frequency Trading. High Frequen...
So what became of Iceland?
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As summer fades into autumn, between their daily siestas and with a lump in their throat after flicking through the newspaper and finding yet more company and risk premiums, the Spanish should take the time to consider what has become of Iceland, tha...
‘Banker-bashing is like child abuse’ says PM’s favourite entrepreneur
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A banker singled out by David Cameron for praise in his party conference speech has claimed that criticism of bankers is comparable to child abuse. made the bizarre and shocking comparison between the treatment of bankers after the financial crash,...
Lawmakers Soften Investment Rules
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The European Parliament has shied away from tougher rules on selling financial products.
Russia’s Massive Capital Outflow Has Silver Lining
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Capital outflows are usually deemed to be a negative development for any economy, but in Russia’s case they help avoid economic overheating and are natural considering the country’s poor business climate, Russia's finance ministry and the Interna...
Euro’s Banking Union Is Iffy to Central Europe
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Four central European countries outside the euro zone share a concern that, through a planned banking union, the European Union’s single-currency block could impose rules on them that would lead to a loss of control over their financial sectors.
The U.S. Sues Bank of America: A Spanking or Slap-on-the-Wrist?
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In late October 2012, federal prosecutors in New York formally accused Bank of America of “carrying out a scheme, started by its Countrywide Financial unit, that defrauded government-backed mortgage agencies by churning out loans at a rapid pace wi...
Banks Healthier?
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European banks may have begun their recovery since the ECB introduced its Outright Monetary Transactions. Private investors seem to have taken Draghi's action as a signal that Eurobanks will not be allowed to fail and have tentatively re-entered the...
The financial transaction tax faithful march on
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Tomorrow will mark another milestone in the long meandering path towards a international financial transaction tax, otherwise known as the Tobin tax. What exactly will happen? Well the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, will approve a...
Should Citi Be Broken Up or “Prodded”?
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In 2011, the office of the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program published a report on the aid provided to Citigroup by the U.S. Government during the financial crisis of 2008. “Unless and until an institution such as Citi...
EU Summit: Another Plan to Plan
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel set the stage for this EU summit by stating “this is not a summit where we will make decisions, but we will prepare decisions for December.” Unlike other EU summits in recent years, this one didn’t occur against...
FROB is not NAMA
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The post’s title acts as a self-selection device, since if your interest is piqued by the mention of Spain’s Fondo de Reestructuración Ordenada Bancaria (FROB) or Ireland’s National Asset Management Agency (NAMA), you’re alre...
Vertrauenswürdig? Immer mehr europäische Länder haben Ratingprobleme
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Bis vor wenigen Jahren galten sie als eine der sichersten Anlageformen überhaupt: Staatsanleihen von Mitgliedsländern der Europäischen Union. Im Zuge der Eurokrise ist dieses Bild in den letzten Jahren ins Wanken geraten. Welche Folgen sich daraus...
EU summit: Mañana mañana | Editorial
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Political fix remains vulnerable to the fiscal equivalent of the next extreme weather event to hit the eurozoneThis year's winner of the Nobel peace prize – that 27-nation bloc known as the EU – appears increasingly to make decisions in the small...
Lessons from Libor for EMU
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The European Council meeting has reached yet another agreement that will solve the EU’s financial crisis, this time relating to banking supervision. (Read about it here.) Mark Twain said something similar about giving up smoking: the EU finds i...
A step forward towards a banking and fiscal union
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By Carlo Peano (Live from EU Council Summit)This week’s European Council Summit was not as pressed as the last summit. The financial markets are in a stable situation at this time. Furthermore, rumors that Spain would have asked for a light bailout...
Banking Supervision is not a Banking Union
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At 4 a.m. this morning, heads of government reached an agreement in principle to transfer supervision of banks to the ECB. The details of how far the ECB's powers will go, and how it will relate to the European Banking Authority to and...
EU summit: What, exactly, was agreed Friday?
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Germany's Angela Merkel, left, and France's François Hollande at the EU summit in Brussels. With the eurozone crisis response slowing to a crawl, Friday’s early-morning agreement setting a timetable for a new single eurozone bank supervi...
Eurozone bank supervision to start next year, EU leaders say
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European Union leaders have agreed to work towards completing the legal framework for a single eurozone banking supervisor by the end of this year – with the mechanism due to come in to force some time later in 2013...
Banking union: moving forward or standing still?
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Media reports on the outcome of eurozone summit discussions last night are mixed, but there is general theme that eurozone leaders have taken ‘a step closer to banking union’. Looking at the latest conclusions (see here),we wouldn't quite d...
Clock is ticking on European banking union
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Authors: Jean Pisani-FerryEuropean leaders are meeting in Brussels almost four months after their previous summit, at the end of June, where they launched a project for European banking union and agreed on direct recapitalisation of banks in crisis-h...
Morning Briefing: Fate of EU Banking Union Plan Eyed
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The much-anticipated single bank supervisor for the euro area will likely become operational sometime in 2013, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy told reporters Friday following a long meeting among European Union leaders which started Thur...
The red-eyed walk to banking union
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European leaders agree a timetable for a new bank supervisor, but uncertainty remains...
EU summit: Hollande says bank union top priority
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François Hollande, the French president, has just arrived at the socialist confab at The Square meeting centre in Brussels. Hollande, the unofficial guest of honour, drew cheers from nearby tourists as he stepped out of his motorcade. Hollande, his...
Leaked legal opinion on eurozone banking union
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Legal opinions from the top lawyer to EU ministers are not intended for mass circulation. They are usually virtually unquotable, often studiously ambiguous and always highly political. But the Council legal service’s take on the European Commis...
Daily Digest: Calls for integration at EU summit
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The leaders of the 27 EU member states are meeting for a two-day summit in Brussels today to discuss ways to stem the debt crisis. The talks in Brussels are expected to focus on banking … Continue reading →...
Morning Briefing: Central Bankers Conference in Focus
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Central bankers from Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Israel, Russia, Romania and Sweden are due to speak at an economic conference in Warsaw and the start of the two-day European Union Summit in Brussels will take center stage Thursday.
Germans Warm to Credit Cards – Slowly
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Germany's central bank offered a ray of hope Wednesday to those hoping the euro-zone's largest economy will drag the bloc out of crisis by flexing some serious plastic.
Ruble’s Appeal at One-Year Low among Russians
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The Russian ruble has lost some of its popularity among Russian households as a savings currency after a period of weakening, a poll showed Wednesday.
"Social Justice and the Outright Purchase of Government Bonds by Central Banks" by Stefan Collignon
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In my last column, I argued that the No-bailout principle in Europe is bankrupt, because it destabilises financial markets and sharpens the economic crisis. One reason why governments resist bailouts is that they believe it would violate the interest...
A Poorer Future for Investors
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Apart from a handful of largely euro-zone sovereign bonds, investors are facing miserly returns on just about every class of instrument, writes columnist Alen Mattich.
The first step in Europe’s banking union is difficult but achievable
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Authors: Nicolas VéronThe leaders of Eurozone countries made an unprecedented commitment when they issued on June 29 a statement starting with the words “We affirm that it is imperative to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns.”...
