September, 2016

• 19 September

  Merkel needs to convince her critics

    Two back-to-back stinging defeats have rattled German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU). The internal splits are palpable now. Even though Merkel has dropped the “we can do it” rallying cry on migrants, she has refused to put a cap on migration. This is a bold and righteous move, but to convince her coalition partners about her stand ...

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• 19 September

  Watch out this year’s most consequential Senate race

  

    From Erie in the west to Scranton in the east, Pennsylvania is flecked with casualties the stubborn economic sluggishness and relentless globalization have inflicted on industrial communities. But in this middle-class Philadelphia suburb, Tom Danzi knows that the economy is denting even his business repairing damaged cars. His Suburban Collision Specialists once had 27 employees kept busy by drivers ...

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• 19 September

  What’s behind China’s rising housing costs

  

    For many years, China’s authorities took a Goldilocks approach to housing prices: They wanted a market that was neither too hot nor too cold, and took measures as needed to control prices. Although an explicit asset-price target was never announced, it was widely assumed that the government wanted home prices to grow in line with the rate of economic ...

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• 19 September

  The European welfare state has a future again

    In the years since the 2008-09 financial crisis, cracks have appeared in the global hegemony of neoliberalism. The pressure to favour free markets and reject the social-welfare model has moderated somewhat. In the U.S., President Barack Obama succeeded in installing the first general health-insurance system in the country’s history. Thus Washington has moved closer toward the European welfare state ...

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• 19 September

  China rich help Europe banks raise $14bn

  

    Bloomberg The appetite of China’s wealthy to diversify from a weakening yuan is helping European finance companies boost capital to prepare for the next financial crisis. Global fund managers are urging caution. Since Aug. 1, seven issuers opened order books for their Basel III bond sales in Asian hours, raising $11.9 billion selling instruments that count as capital under ...

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• 19 September

  Qatar central bank offers sale of $824mn govt bonds

  

    Dubai / Reuters Qatar’s central bank is offering 3 billion riyals ($824 million) of government bonds in its second domestic bond sale this year, according to a circular seen by Reuters. The central bank only issued its first domestic bonds this year in August when it sold 4.6 billion riyals of conventional and Islamic government bonds. Bids for the ...

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• 19 September

  Danske names new personal banking head for wealth unit

  Bloomberg Danske Bank A/S named Jesper Nielsen its head of personal banking, as Denmark’s largest lender reshuffles its management after creating a $200 billion wealth management unit. Nielsen, 47, will be responsible for all of Danske’s personal customer business in the Nordic region from Oct. 1 , the Copenhagen-based bank said in a statement on Monday. Nielsen, who will also ...

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• 19 September

  Deutsche Bank falls on capital risk from settlements

  

    Bloomberg Deutsche Bank AG extended losses as analysts signaled that the German lender’s capital position will be eroded by mounting legal costs such as charges for a U.S. penalty tied to faulty securities. The shares fell as much as 2.6 percent in Frankfurt trading and were 0.9 percent lower as of 11:44 a.m., pushing the loss for this year ...

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• 19 September

  Currencies to politics bedevil African central banks’ task

  

    Bloomberg Africa’s major economies are taking diverging approaches to monetary policy as they struggle to cope with volatile currencies, slumping growth and political meddling. Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa are set to announce interest-rate decisions this week in an environment marked by accelerating price growth and an economic slump in some countries and attempts by politicians to prescribe ...

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• 19 September

  ECB must tighten screws as soon as justified, says Bundesbank chief

  

    Frankfurt / AFP The European Central Bank (ECB) must not allow low interest rates and monetary stimulus to last indefinitely, the head of Germany’s Bundesbank (central bank) said on Monday. “Under no circumstances can interest rates remain so low for longer than is absolutely necessary with regard to price stability,” Bundesbank president Jens Weidmann told a group of European ...

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