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Interviews 20th February 2012

José Sartorius: “Most Spanish employers understand UK’s ‘no’ to the Tobin Tax”

By Jacobo de Regoyos, in Brussels | José Sartorius Álvarez de Bohorques devotes most of his time to his role as a member of the European Economic and Social Committee. He was appointed by the Spanish Confederation of Employers’ Organizations CEOE and the Banking Association AEB. Are the Spanish entrepreneurs against the Tobin tax? Well, I have not met with all Spanish entrepreneurs, but the AEB and the CEOE are contrary to the Tobin…

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aggregation line 15th February 2012

Santander UK secures £65 million from the European Investment Bank for education

Santander will receive the third tranche of funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to provide discounted loan rates to higher and further education facilities, science parks, incubation centres and other qualifying businesses in the education sector. The programme is part of the EIB’s engagement to support and strengthen the UK’s knowledge economy. The Spanish bank said that “The £65 million fund will help support the education sector, in turn helping to…

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World economy 14th February 2012

Tough: UK is under negative outlook, no need to blame the euro

LONDON | Will Moody’s tear out the British triple-A badge before those precautionary 18 months go? If the rationale of the warning issued by the financial risk ratings agency to the Coalition government is that the European neighbourhood may in the near future find even harder to charm investors and so will drag the island’s economy with them towards deeper recession, then the top award became meaningless long ago. Markets know this, but still,…

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In Europe 10th February 2012

Who will untie the knot of the Quantitative Easing cash line?

LONDON | Even those who in principle appear at ease before the Bank of England’s new printing money operation have had but an apathetic attitude. The bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted this week to increase the size of its asset purchase programme, financed via issuance of central bank reserves, by £50 billion –to a grand yet still temporary total of £325 billion– and friends, and foes, saw it coming without quite seeing…

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Markets 8th February 2012

EU’s Robin Hood taxman better shows his true feathers

LONDON | For all the sovereign chin-ups the British prime minister David Cameron draws in every occasion he finds himself summoned to Brussels and Sarkozy’s financial transaction tax is mentioned, the savings gained in the name of the City of London would amount to just €8 billion. Mr Cameron and his euro sceptic troops, barricaded behind a loud sector of the British society too prone to vent their frustration over…

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In Europe 6th February 2012

British SMEs feel down: they might be right

LONDON | Sentiment among the UK’s small and medium-sized manufacturers fell for the third quarter running in the three months to January, as output stagnated and orders decreased against a backdrop of heightened economic and political uncertainty, the CBI said. Of the 350 respondents to the CBI’s latest quarterly SME Trends Survey published on Monday, 26% said output rose while 25% said that it fell, and the resulting balance of +1%…

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aggregation line 4th February 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. UK, could you just cut the banker-pay drama and legislate like Spain? New York sues banks that used electronic system for fraud over mortgages Is insider-trading crackdown the cause of hedge fund’s poor results? Why…

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In Europe 3rd February 2012

Crisis hit UK families’ savings rate harder than in Germany, China

LONDON | Lloyds TSB, the 40pc taxpayer-owned British bank, wondered how much savings UK families have and how this compare to Germany and China. Its researchers came up with some answers: the British household savings ratio (saving proportion of a consumer’s disposable income) has seen a steep downward trend over the past decade, in contrast with the other two countries. The results from Lloyds new survey were set alongside numbers…

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In Europe 31st January 2012

Euroland should be run by Anglosaxons

By Juan Pedro Marín Arrese, in Madrid | Economics is not a science but rather a common sense attitude. An open mind approach is vital to grasp its core meaning. Policing it shouldn’t be handed over to people too fond of rigid rules. Let the Germans have a go at it and you’ll end up with a neutral fiscal and monetary stance all year around. No policy at all, in fact….