The surprisingly positive outcome of the ECB’s health check for German banks may be something of a reprieve for the strained relations between Germany and the evermore- powerful European Central Bank under its controversial Italian president, Mario Draghi. But for the ECB, the real stress and tests are yet to come for the supervisor tasked with making hard decisions with … [Read more...] about After the bank stress tests, ECB backroom tension lingers
Questionable Legality
The largest bank health check ever undertaken in terms of the number of banks, their overall size, and their geographical reach is keeping thousands of bankers, supervisors, and auditors in overtime this summer in preparation for the launching of the European Central Bank as the eurozone’s lead bank supervisor at the beginning of November. The legality of this most ambitious … [Read more...] about Questionable Legality
Stress Test Blues
One thing has been clear since the European Central Bank was empowered as top supervisor for eurozone banks at the June 2012 EU summit. Before the ECB would assume responsibility as the euro area’s lead bank supervisor in November of this year, a comprehensive health check of bank balance sheets and a tough stress test in cooperation with the London-based European Banking … [Read more...] about Stress Test Blues
Why the call “Oliver Wyman go home” gets louder
How in the world could the European Central Bank (ECB) - who is becoming more powerful by the day as the eurozone lead-bank supervisor - has given away a big part of its new authority to a single consultant subsidiary of a U.S. financial service conglomerate in an age where U.S. and British spy masters rule the new cyber world in the interest of its commercial and financial … [Read more...] about Why the call “Oliver Wyman go home” gets louder
Draghi´s German Nightmare
Berlin – Just in time for the May European elections euro area leaders reached a compromise on the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM) and the Single Resolution Fund (SRF), the second pillar of the European banking union project. As the ECB assumed the key role in defusing the eurozone sovereign debt and banking crisis with the levers of … [Read more...] about Draghi´s German Nightmare