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Policymakers should be careful about rushing into action over signs that bank profitability is collapsing. -
A top-level reshuffle suggests that Barclays chief executive Jes Staley is not going anywhere, but raises fresh questions about whether the bank’s top-five ambitions are achievable, writes David Rothnie.
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The ECB is mulling the idea of green Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations to boost green lending. It's a noble aim — but it should work with the policies it has first, if it is serious about environmental impact.
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Domestic bank consolidation has returned to the top of the agenda, but for financial institutions bankers, unlocking the most lucrative relationships requires years of coverage and an ability to look beyond the quick fix of M&A, writes David Rothnie.
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Ireland won kudos for the swift economic recovery that followed the sovereign debt crisis, but with a considerable portion of residential mortgage loans overdue or restructured, its housing market was in a terrible state even before the impact of Covid lockdowns, let alone the peril a disorderly Brexit may bring.
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The coronavirus pandemic has sparked an unprecedented wave of sovereign borrowing. Much of the paper has, unsurprisingly, ended up on the balance sheets of domestic banks. This has, equally unsurprisingly, prompted a fresh round of worry about the strengthening of the sovereign-bank nexus.
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The European Central Bank (ECB) would gain more autonomy under new proposals on how to improve bank capital rules.
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If the European Central Bank (ECB) is serious about eventually scaling back its quantitative easing programme and encouraging a return to normal market funding, it will need all tools at its disposal. That suggests there is scope for an instrument that delivers a low cost of funding and supports the European economy. European Secured Notes (ESNs), which are likely to form part of the European Commission’s capital markets action plan, which is to be unveiled this Thursday, could provide the answer.
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The green bond market was conceived on a simple plan. A new class of green bonds would finance environmental projects, standing out from the grey mass of ordinary bonds.
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Recent Brexit developments prove that UK banks were right to pile into the market earlier this year.
