A cynical English expression popular in sporting circles is “All the Gear and No Idea”. This is expressed, sotto voce, at the club bar when mocking a typically well-off amateur sportsman who has shown up at the ski slope, the golf course or the clay pigeon shoot with the most expensive equipment and trendiest clothes, appearing confident. Sadly, he then falls flat on his face (literally in the skiing case), or fails to drive the golf ball past the ladies’ tee, or misses every clay. We suspect that outgoing President Draghi felt somewhat embarrassed along these lines as he delivered his penultimate press conference on September 12th, because everybody keenly awaiting his announcement knew that he and his crack team are aware that his 8-year tenure has been disappointing. The ECB has broadly two functions. In one it is paralysed – the quest for a “deeper” European Monetary Union (EMU), and in the other it is going around in circles – price stabilisation.
Financial and Banking Newsletter
Facebook’s greatest recent challenge has been the fading of its brand. A veritable slew of newer social media platforms are cooler and more trendy than Fb, which now languishes in popular esteem as the social platform of choice for the out of touch greying generations, rather than youngsters.
Fb has 3.5 billion customers – half the world’s population. For these reasons, we think that its new currency Libra is interesting. In particular, it shines a light on continuing existential threat to the euro, which is only one of the presumably G7 currencies whose assets will back Libra. Will Libra succeed?
The Authoritarian Push for Tighter and More Centralised Banking Regulations
Reuters reported in May that “The European Commission is working on its biggest regulatory push on banking since the 2008 financial crash that could curb Britain’s access to the bloc”.…
Will Monetary Union Become Fiscal Union? The Incoming New Personnel will Influence the Timing and Required Power Shifts.
Personnel changes are afoot, both of Central Bankers and Politicians. ECB President Draghi will step down at the end of October when his eight-year term expires. Half the ECB Governing…
The ECB is under twin pressures, both of which are only likely to increase. Firstly, with interest rates stuck at minus 0.4% ECB policy is diverging from Fed policy; secondly,…
Latest Political Developments Given the media’s focus on the March 29th Brexit date, the views of present and former EU political leaders captivated recent mainstream media. Former Italian prime minister…
In January, there were two interesting speeches by senior ECB figures which provided some insight as to likely future policy. Speaking at an event in Riga to commemorate the fifth…
With little fanfare, the Eurogroup of 19 Eurozone finance ministries published in December its report detailing progress on how to strengthen and deepen the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Written…
Background to MIFID, MIFIR and EMIR Version 2 of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MIFID II) is a particularly important piece of recent European Law due to the extent…
The Stand-off Between Italy and the EU is a Serious Threat to the Euro
Why all the fuss? The nub of the dispute is Italy’s budget plans, which have been rejected by the European Commission (EC). The budget claims to increase public indebtedness by…