banks

There have been three recent developments in Spain: the new record high unemployment, the earnings reports of several large banks, and the government's new fiscal forecasts and strategy. Spanish 10-year yields continued to trend lower…

The overarching theme here is that the economy of Europe is in tatters and this is causing a re-think of the policy course. In my view, the political space for the re-think is limited and will ultimately entail some tacked on growth…

The European Union is an existential crisis because its crowning achievement, the single currency, has come under assault from all sides. The continued existence of the Euro has even been called into question as country after country within…

Depositors in Eurozone banks are facing a steep learning curve on just exactly what deposit insurance means. This column points out that the precedents set in Cyprus and Iceland show that deposit insurance is only a legal commitment for…

By Sober Look As European banks find some private sources of capital to fund themselves, they continue to repay their ECB loans - particularly in the 3y LTRO program. FoxBusiness: - Next week, nine banks will repay just over 4 billion euros…

Back to the Willem Buiter interview in Financiëele Dagblad. Here Buiter continues with some comments on Jeroen Dijsselbloem's admission that bail-ins will be the preferred vehicle for conducting rescues going forward so as not to burden the…

It's Easter weekend here in Germany and I caught this interview with Willem Buiter from the Financiëele Dagblad that I get by e-mail each morning. I thought it was significant enough that I would translate it. Buiter has been fairly…

This post is extracted from my newsletter sent out four weeks ago, at a time when the mood in Europe was much better than now and when there was even a sense that the crisis was in the process of being resolved. I mention this to remind…

The latest information on Cyprus is that the ECB has told the Cypriots it could no longer extend the ELA facility being used by the now bankrupt Cypriot financial institutions. Cyprus has until Monday to find the funds to support their…

A lot has been made about the fact that Russian money was in Cyprus and that Cyprus was an offshore tax haven. A lot of people are claiming all of this money is mafia-related or in Cyprus to dodge taxes. And it is this claim, especially in…