Financial and Banking Newsletter

Introduction The overwhelming view of financial sector and media is that banks have made strong recoveries from the problems of 2007-9.  Earnings are resilient, share prices strongly up in 2024,…

In mid-September former ECB President Mario Draghi published a 400-page report recommending changes necessary to boost the EU’s competitiveness.  Although couched in broadly positive language, the document did little to…

Introduction – 130 Central Banks have CBDC Projects Since we last reported on the ECB’s thinking about CBDCs1, multiple central banks have undertaken research in designing, operating and selling CBDCs.…

Introduction – the life and career of M. Jacques Delors, 1925-2023 Born in the interwar years, Jacques Delors joined France’s central bank aged 20, where he worked for seventeen years.…

Questionable business models in Fintech have been exposed, as predicted, in response to rising interest rates.  In Europe, the UK and US, rates have risen from near zero levels at…

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…

Tech has been on a tear for 15 years, and European financial technology (fintech) has been encouraged for multiple reasons, not the least of which is that the financial authorities…