100 posts
Scrap the FTT, have a Bourse Tax instead
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At 10.53 on 20th January 2012, the Telegraph reported on their live blog: 10.53 A German Government spokesman says that an EU-wide financial transaction tax is still the goal, but that there may be a possible bridge with the UK via a bourse tax. Wha...
Are the credit ratings agencies being objective?
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After weeks of threats and rumours, credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) finally downgraded nine eurozone countries last week (including France, which lost its treasured triple-A credit rating). S&P said the EU draft fisca...
Agence de notations: quelques points à améliorer
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Après le récent tir groupé de S&P et la dégradation des dettes souveraines de neuf états membres de la zone euro, c’est l’occasion de se poser quelques questions sur le fonctionnement de ces agences de notations (AN) ; et de con...
I Never Ask for an Explanation of Past Positions
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Especially when it comes to the basic practice of European humiliation politics:Germany and Italy undermine French bid for financial taxGerman and Italian leaders at a meeting in Berlin said they would only back a financial transactions tax at the le...
Why I agree with Sarkozy on the FTT...!!
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"French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made it quite clear he is determined to forge ahead with a controversial Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), even if it means his country is the only one to implement it. It seems likely, then, that some form of...
Would a Financial Transactions Tax hurt Europe’s economy?
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French President Nicolas Sarkozy has made it quite clear he is determined to forge ahead with a controvesial Financial Transactions Tax (FTT), even if it means his country is the only one to implement it. It seems likely, then, that some form ̷...
No “crippling new tax on Britain”
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Letter sent to the Editor of The Daily Express on 5th January, 2012 Your front page claim that the EU will “hammer Britain with a crippling new tax” (5 Jan) is fantasy. First, as your own article says on page four, the UK has a veto on th...
Boundless arrogance
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Just to remind you, formally the European Community is made up of 27 countries each equal under the Treaties.Then you have reality.A European financial transaction tax will be in place by the end of year, French minister for European affairs Jean Leo...
Rolling the Dice: The E.U.’s Financial Regulatory Agency (the ESMA)
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Even though the European financial sector integrated significantly during the first decade of the twenty-first century, the E.U. Government’s regulatory infrastructure and content did not keep up. As in the U.S. until 1933, state regulation carried...
Why the City of London is European | Jo Johnson
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David Cameron must persuade the French and other EU members that London's financial centre is their asset tooNext month's Franco-British collôque will provide much-needed group therapy for a relationship in crisis. The easy part will be where UK del...
The Purposes of Financial Regulation
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The Current Moment has a shrewd comment on the split at Brussels over financial regulation:There is lots wrong with this view of last week’s acrimonious summit negotiations. For a start, Cameron’s motivations were as much about avoiding a nationa...
Will a Basel risk-free ‘about turn’ be enough?
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News that Basel III is reconsidering the use of government bonds as eligible capital to be held in banks’ so-called liquidity buffers, couldn’t have come quicker.The world,...
Who rules Europe? Merkozy or financial markets?
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(Reuters) – “Standard & Poor’s has warned it may carry out an unprecedented mass downgrade of euro zone countries if EU leaders fail to deliver a convincing agreement on how to solve the region’s debt crisis in a summit on Friday.
The Financial Transactions Tax – One Big Mess
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So the Financial Transactions Tax (“FTT”) seems to be stuck in a rut at the moment. Last month, Chris Leslie MP voiced Labour’s support for the FTT provided that it was an international tax. In a rare show of cross party political agreement...
Our video guest: Dr. Bart Van Vooren, Copenhagen University
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Dr Bart Van Vooren is Assistant Professor in European Law and Integration at Copenhagen University. In this interview, taken during a recent debate in Brussels, Mr Van Vooren outlines the possibilities and problems around a European financial tran...
A glimmer of hope for credit rating agencies
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On what has been a bleak day for credit rating agencies after S&P’s faux French downgrade, here is a tiny bit of good news for the industry. Michel Barnier, the commissioner overseeing European financial regulation, is on Tuesday unveiling...
Financial Transaction Tax sparks disagreement in Council of Ministers
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At the end of the meeting of the 27 finance ministers on 8 November, two fractions became clearly visible. The Franco-German double, supported by Spain, sees itself opposed by a group of offensive anglo-saxon countries. “I would suggest that we...
Do markets threaten democracy?
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Yesterday I had a close encounter with BBC Radio 4. On receiving an email yesterday afternoon asking whether I might be able to ‘help’ with a programme going out today, I called them back. A friendly woman replied. It turned out that they had spo...
George Osborne tells his colleagues some plain truths about Tobin Tax
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The clip in Nick Robinson's report last night was great, but the full thing is even better. If you haven't got round to it yet, here's George Osborne's demolition of the Tobin Tax in full at Ecofin yesterday...
European Financial Transaction Tax – the story of a broken dream
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The G20 summit last week made significant advances in the introduction of a global financial transaction tax (FTT). Not only France, Spain and Germany but also Argentina, Brazil, Ethiopia and South Africa have declared themselves in favor of an FTT,...
EU leads the world on financial transactions tax
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S&D Euro MPs welcomed the European Commission's proposal to create a financial transaction tax in the EU for which they have been campaigning for months. Said S&D spokesman for economic and monetary affairs, Udo Bullmann and Anni Podimat...
Financial Transaction Tax is politically and economically unwise
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Banks, just like any other corporation do not pay taxes. People pay taxes, stockholders, consumers pay taxes. An FTT will put the entire burden on the citizenry and will make the eurozone less... To view the full entry click on the title or visit ht...
A Robin Hood tax could turn the banks from villains to heroes | Bill Nighy
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An EU-wide Robin Hood tax is close to becoming reality. Cameron must now tell the City to get on boardIt's a script that even Hollywood might have balked at. In the midst of the worst economic crisis since the second world war, a small band of m...
It’s payback time for the financial sector
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The EU commission has today proposed a new tax, that will tax the exchange of shares and bonds by a rate of 0.1% and derivative contracts , at a rate of 0.01%. José Manuel Barroso introduced the proposal in his State of the Union speech in the Europ...
France steps up support for financial transaction tax
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If governments could find trillions of dollars to support banks and the global financial system in 2009, why can’t they raise enough money to help eradicate extreme poverty? This is the question that supporters of a financial transaction tax (FT...
Financial Transaction Tax: Bad economics - Cheap Politics
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A Financial Transaction Tax confuses virtue with vice as it will only produce adverse effects for the economy. Politicians use it to win approaching elections. Image Source: LBI In the joint... To view the full entry click on the title or visit h...
Shooting the bankers, or themselves?
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European leaders are pushing for a tax on financial transactions, but it might do more harm than good...
Blankfein at Goldman: Losing the Chairmanship?
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In September 2011, a pension fund representing U.S. government employees filed a shareholder proposal to strip Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein of his other post as chairman. According to Reuters, “The pension plan of the American Federation of St...
Infograph: The EU's New System of Financial Supervision
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The EU has overhauled its system of financial supervision in response to the global financial crisis. This infograph maps the new system, the key players, and their new powers.
Inside the EU's New Banking Watchdog
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The European Banking Authority (EBA) is one of three newly established Supervisory Authorities. Alongside the European Systemic Risk Board, these institutions form the core of the EU's new system of financial supervision. Adam Farkas, the EBA's Exec...
EU to push financial transactions tax at G20 summit
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The European Union will push for the adoption of a financial transactions tax (FTT) at a summit of the world's 20 biggest economies, the G20, in November, European Commission President José Manuel Barroso said on Wednesday (31 August). G20 leader...
De la bourse au développement…
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Les certitudes sont tombées en ce qui concerne la liberté du marché pour les services financiers et la bourse. Non seulement en Europe, mais dans le monde, on s’est rendus compte, avec effroi, que le système sur lequel tout le monde comptait é...
Fraud at S&P: A Conflict of Interest
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By the summer of 2011, the U.S. Government had brought relatively few cases against large financial institutions for their roles in the financial crisis of 2008. For instance, the government investigated Washington Mutual and Countrywide without taki...
Dummkoepfe
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Michael Lewis’s recent article brings up again the question of why Germans bought so much toxic financial waste in the run-up to the financial crisis. It seems clear that his ‘because they’re all obsessed with shit’ theory isn...
What Will EU Financial Regulation Actually Deliver?
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Marco Giuli - Research Fellow, Madariaga - College of Europe FoundationMadariaga Report - 12 April 2011Does the EU financial regulation in the making actually break up the skewed triangle of low risk perception (in terms of systemic risk and mora...
Investment Bank Dinners with Corporate Executives and Hedge Fund Managers: The General Public Not Admitted
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The Case Study:“One day in early March [2011], the phone lines of hedge-fund traders around London and New York suddenly lit up. A stock that many of them had placed hefty bets on—Pride International Inc., an energy company in the process of bein...
Moody’s Downgrades Hungary Just Above Junk Category
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Credit rating agency Moody's cut Hungary's foreign- and local-currency government bond ratings by two notches, just one notch above junk category. See analysts' reaction.
Robin Hood tax: an idea whose time has come?
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Some unions, NGO’s and sections of the left are presently busy promoting the so-called “Robin Hood Tax” as an alternative to the Con-Dem cuts in the UK and mainstream capitalist rersponses to the world economic crisis. It’...
Why does all this ‘Bond Market Malarkey’ Matter?
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Image via CrunchBase As I have recently begun writing about the Bond Markets and posting about it on Facebook, an interesting discussion has taken place on why are we bothering reporting on it if we currently aren’t borrowing from the bond mark...
Financial Transactions Tax: the Commission Proposal
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The Commission has proposed a two pronged approach for the future taxation of the financial sector. At global level, the Commission supports the idea of a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT). At EU level, the Commission recommends that a Financial Activ...
EU to wage war against speculation on commodity markets
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Brussels, like Washington, is planning to launch measures to regulate commodity exchanges and curb speculation, as well as step up transparency in food trade after the recent surge in agricultural commodity prices.
Proposals on short selling, credit default swaps and derivatives
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The European Commission has made new proposals on short selling and credit default swaps, and on derivatives trading. The main points: Short selling: Measures to enhance transparency – at a lower threshold (0.2% of the issued share capital) not...
Promoting integrity in European financial services reform
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In the past few weeks, Transparency International’s Liaison Office to the European Union (TI EU) has been very active in the European Commission’s efforts to reform financial services, led by the Directorate General "Internal Market & Service...
Gamble
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Open Europe published a new briefing earlier this week, looking at the creation of three new EU supervisors to oversee the insurance, banking and securities sectors. The proposal also paves way for the creation of a so-called European Systemic Risk B...
Talks about talks about an FTT
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Mixed news from yesterday’s meeting of EU finance ministers regarding the introduction of a financial transactions tax (FTT). According to the communique a decision has been postponed. Clearly this reflects disagreement amongst Member State gov...
European Union Legislature Strikes Deal on EU Wide Financial Regulators
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Thursday the European Parliament and Council negotiators struck a deal on the new EU supervisory authorities (ESAs) and the European Systemic Risk Board (ESRB). This means that these new agencies should be up and running by January 2011. For more inf...
Financial lobbyists ‘educating’ MEPs?
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Both the MEPs and banking lobbyists that participate in the European Parliamentary Financial Services Forum (EPFSF) claim that the EPFSF is not a lobby group but a “forum for discussion”.Commenting on the recent call from more than 70 MEPs to co...
Under Stress
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After a long and rather tense wait, the initial response to the publication of the European bank stress tests was always going to be something of an anti-climax. Indeed the results should hardly have comes as a surprise to anyone It is hardly break...
Week of July 24th
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(Version Francaise) For your pleasure and information, here is a summary of the European news this week: The big thing of the week, is, again, economy: First, at the beginning of the week, the rating agency Moody’s, downgraded the Irish debt by...
Semaine du 24 Juillet
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(English Version) Pour votre plaisir et votre information, voici le résumé de l’actualité Européenne de la semaine: Le gros dossier de la semaine est – encore une fois – l’économie. D’abord, en début de semaine, l&...
How stressful was it?
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So how stressful was it? Seven banks failing the stress test was fewer than many had expected. Some thought the figure would be closer to 10 or 12. As expected, the heart of the problem lies with Spain's regional savings...
Stressed? Maybe
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I somehow don't think it was a coincidence that the much awaited banking stress tests result of 91 European Banks was set up for 18.30 on a Friday afternoon.They must have been terrified the markets would get frit. As it was the Euro dropped severely...
The Great Hunger Lottery: How Banking Speculation causes Food Crises
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Last week a British hedge fund bought 250,000 tonnes of cocoa beans, pushing prices up to a record 33-year high. Hedge funds and banks are constantly speculating on food and other commodity prices, but what was unusual in this case is that the hedge...
Financial supervision: a gamble or a victory?
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An article in yesterday’s Telegraph celebrated the ‘victory’ of George Osborne, who, it claimed, secured an agreement at yesterday’s ECOFIN meeting that one of the new pan-European financial regulators – the European Banking Authority (EBA)...
MEPs ring alarm bells over financial industry’s excessive lobbying power
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Twenty two Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum launched a remarkable warning against the financial industry’s intensive lobbying efforts last week, warning that it “poses a danger to democracy”.The MEPs, all ac...
