Gordon Kerr

Introduction – Bulgaria’s recent announcement On 17 February, Bulgarian finance minister Rositza Velkova announced that, rather than continue as planned with the full, formal adoption of the euro on 1…

Introduction – Recent ECB Policy Developments Croatia became the 20th Eurozone member on January 1. Regular readers know our often expressed view that the euro is a deeply flawed currency…

There was universal relief in the UK and international media at the demise of Prime Minister (PM) Liz Truss and her replacement by the man she had recently defeated in…

Towards the end of August, every year investors focus on the Jackson Hole conference of the central banking global elite. Given widespread acceptance among central bankers that non-temporary inflation is…

When the history of the euro currency’s rise and decline in popularity is written, the month of June 2022 will be viewed as decisive. In June, the ECB committed to…

How can sanctions end the war?  Easily, according to respected Russian chess superstar and political activist, Gary Kasparov.  Simply isolate all Russian banks from the global financial infrastructure, confiscate all…

China devalued its currency by 3%. Financial markets responded disproportionately, but we explain that it is quite understandable, given government policies in the rich countries.
We then investigate the devaluation’s effect on the US and EU financial markets as well as on the currencies of emerging markets.

Ultra Low Interest Rates have destabilized the global Economy whose capital markets now show signs of Illiquidity.

Stress testing of banks by central banking authorities has come to prominence as reliance on the traditional accounting standards has waned. Europe’s banking system was successfully stress tested last October, but we were not impressed.

As the US vs European recovery story swings our way, what lessons can Europe learn from the strong swing to the centre right in Britain’s elections? Is there a possibility of Brexit?

Banks have been hit with more fines, but more importantly, also with Criminal Convictions. Is this banking out of control because it has been deregulated? Is it fair to call the regulatory changes “deregulation”?

Most media optimism, both in the US and Europe, continues to focus on the dizzy levels of stock and bond markets, but in our view these index levels have been driven up by professionals front-running QE in the US and Europe.

In the past month, a Bulgarian court appointed two experts to liquidate the assets of CCB (known also by its Bulgarian initials KTB). This marked the end of a rather remarkable story that began in June 2014, when the rest of the Eurozone banking system was enjoying a period of relative calm.