ECONOMY

Markets 21st May 2012

IMF reports 70pc of Spain’s banking system already cleaned up

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | The idea of a suffocated Spanish banking sector spreads like fire throughout the markets: Bankia’s nationalisation, Moody’s cut, the French president François Hollande advising to recapitalise the sector… But the International Monetary Fund will publish next week a report that assures 70% of Spain’s financial entities are already restructured. This news should help tame and perhaps even extinguish the flames. Analysts at Madrid’s financial City also…

Markets 18th May 2012

UK banks could face £100-billion bill in commercial property debt

LONDON | Debt held against UK commercial property fell last year from £228.1 billion to £212.3 billion, a drop of 6.8%, the largest British property lending survey revealed Friday. Yet the UK Commercial Property Lending Market report by De Montfort University found that while the overall level of debt is on a downward trajectory and progress has been made in dealing with the distressed legacy debt, there is a long way…

Spanish economy 18th May 2012

Bureaucracy, taxes and regulation keep Spanish companies too small

By CaixaBank research team, in Barcelona | The average size of Spanish firms is smaller than that of other countries with a similar degree of development. According to the Central Company Directory, at 1 January 2011, out of the total 3.25 million firms in Spain, 99.9% were small and medium-sized enterprises; that is, they employed fewer than 250 salaried workers. Micro-enterprises with fewer than 10 salaried employees accounted for 95.2%…

World economy 17th May 2012

Euro zone exporters should look beyond Chinese demand for growth

LONDON | The euro area continued to run a small trade surplus up to March. This is encouraging on account of stronger import prices, led by energy, in the first quarter of the year. But a closer look into the volumes suggests that import volumes are weakening. Estimates from Barclays Capital analysts put the declining at around 1% in January to March 2012 from the same period in 2011, after a…

Interviews 16th May 2012

Spain’s recovery is on its way, Telefónica’s chairman assures investors

By Julia Pastor, in Madrid | Telefónica’s president César Alierta devoted his speech during the company’s general shareholder meeting to claim that markets are not considering the company’s growth potential, as well as to defend that Spain is “a very solvent country.” According to the data gathered by Link analysts, Alierta stressed Telefónica’s high dividend yield, which at current prices will be of 13,3% in 2012. In Alerta’s opinion, it…

World economy 15th May 2012

The US universities and their Madoff-like employment accounts

Universities in the US have acknowledged that they distort the employment figures of their graduates. Now, some newly graduated lawyers have begun litigation against them because, in spite of official assurances, they have been left jobless. WASHINGTON | Some U.S. lawyers have decided to file lawsuits against their Law schools. The reason? They were promised a job upon graduation but have been given none after four years of studies in addition to…

Spanish economy 15th May 2012

Deterioration in Spanish real economy softer than forecast

MADRID | BBVA Research’s latest estimates confirmed the recession in Spain, pointing to a GDP contraction of 1.3% in 2012. However, economic indicators are revealing a less dramatic than estimated deterioration in the real economy. The data presented in its ‘Spain Economic Outlook’ report show that the measures adopted lend credibility to the ability to meet current fiscal deficit targets. BBVA’s economic research department flagged the positive effect of the programme set…

Spanish economy 15th May 2012

Tuesday’s chart: real estate asset coverage in Spain’s banks

Performing real estate assets in Spanish banks must now be provisioned at 30 percent of its book value, which will raise the average coverage ratio for all real estate assets to 45 percent. Then, troubled and toxic real estate assets will be transferred to an asset management company (sociedad de gestión de Activos) and the rest of the portfolio will be independently audited. The picture of the situation within the banking system in…

Spanish economy 9th May 2012

BANKIA rescue does lift uncertainties, for the moment being

MADRID | Rescuing BANKIA will contribute to cut short doubts on short-term Spanish banking solvency. It was no secret that BANKIA was thrown in deep waters by the demanding government requirement to uplift real estate portfolio, having the dubious merit to top the list of entities laden with bad loans. Its intention to mend this state and play on its own gathered widespread disbelief, as big potential partners turned their backs…

aggregation line 5th May 2012

Weekend link fest

A curated selection of links we hope can enlighten us all; some come from our corner, some do from other corners of the net. And as always, our comment widgets are anxious to get your suggestions. Facebook? That was something for my father Will we miss Sarko? Neither religion, nor philosophy: physics, I tell you Germany doesn’t show any respect The euro, that sentiment Hollande is a menace for you, too…

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