The end of capitalism
Perhaps investment strategists are a more optimistic bunch than your average columnist or economist. Or maybe they are just so steeped in the present and the future that they have forgotten about history. [...]
Banking
A banking union to pool all risks
It could take a while until European leaders recognise that the answer to the failings of European integration does not always have to be even more integration. [...]
Stern words from banking’s anti-banker
John Cryan is already making clear that under his leadership, Deutsche Bank will make a break with its immediate past - or indeed, reconnect with its history. [...]
New Zealand’s $US150m Portuguese headache
The New Zealand Super Fund’s battle with Portugal is the first major clash in the two countries’ history. Fortunately, we do not have to expect any kind of retaliation, nor will the two sole frigates in the Royal New Zealand Navy set sail for Lisbon anytime soon. [...]
Taking a gamble with negative interest rates
The ECB’s big experiment with negative interest rates is finally reaching ordinary people and two things are ironic about it: First, that it was a bank with a hint of gambling in its name which finally drove this message home. And second, that of all weeks in the calendar it had to happen during world savings week: the last week in October when European banks traditionally pretend they like to manage assets and encourage savings. If only. [...]
A German levy to tax all friendship
The Bundesbank has put forward its own proposal on how to deal with acute debt crises in the future. On closer inspection, it is plain to see that the Germans are as orthodox as ever. [...]
Blowing the cover off Europe’s bank crisis
As the sovereign debt crisis lingers, we should pay more attention to the complex and obscure issues facing Europe’s banking system. It will be one of the main battlegrounds of the euro crisis for the coming year. [...]
Europe’s new ‘liability’ union
It could be quite a rude awakening after the September 22 election. An unsuspecting German public will quickly find out the real state of the euro, how much saving it will cost and what share of banking losses Germany’s savers and taxpayers will have to take in the euro periphery. [...]
Vertrauen ist gut, Kontrolle ist besser
Vertrauen mag der Anfang von allem sein. Aber die Finanzkrise hat gezeigt, dass es auch unter ordnungspolitischen Gesichtspunkten am Ende nicht ohne eine intelligente Kontrolle des Bankwesens geht. Bankenzerschlagungen braucht es dazu gleichwohl nicht, wohl aber eine konsequentere Durchsetzung des Prinzips der Haftung sowohl für Bankaktionäre als auch für Topbanker. [...]
Has the EU’s stress test failed?
As the whole world worried about a potential Greek collapse, another European country experienced two actual bank failures. And no, they did not happen in Portugal, Spain or Italy. In fact, the failures didn’t even occur in the eurozone. The country in question is Denmark. [...]