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’‘Is it dangerous to borrow dollars?’
Or, remembering the crisis dollar swap lines, and noting a funding currency elephant in the room for Australian and Swedish banks.
Moody’s downgrade of four Australian banks on Wednesday was serendipitous in a way.
How do you say bail-in in Swedish?
Those who don’t keep up with Danish legal proceedings might have missed this development.
Last week, the country’s lawmakers sat down to debate a tweak to the country’s Bankpakke III bailout (or should that be bail-in?) bill.
Go north, jaded government bond investor?
No, not north to German bunds. Further north.
Pär Magnusson and Filip Andersson — Scandinavian macro and fixed income analysts at RBS — have a few things they want to get off their chest at the moment,
Anglo-Irish carry trade ahoy
Presenting a modest proposal of sorts.
It’s been more or less confirmed on Monday that the UK and Sweden will indeed extend bilateral loans to Ireland as part of its international bailout.
But while Sweden’s finance minster has estimated a rate of around 3 per cent for his country’s up to €1.1bn contribution,
… for their analysis of markets with search frictions
It’s another unexpected and slightly left-of-field decision from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel (phew).
The 2010 prize has just been awarded jointly to Peter A.
SEB-performing
That’s the share price of Sweden’s SEB — one of the Nordic region’s largest banks. About 11 per cent of SEB’s loans also happen to be to the Baltic region.
The bank reported fourth-quarter results on Wednesday which,
Defcon Latvia, again
Economic troubles have been bubbling away in Latvia for months, but the country’s government has so far stood strong in the face of rising pressure to devalue the currency to help mitigate some of the negative economic effects.
D-day in Latvia (updated)
Latvia watchers will be awaiting the end of the IMF’s mission to Baltic country on Friday with trepidation.
We already know the talks have been difficult. And while Latvia technically can survive without receiving the second tranche of IMF aid being discussed,
The EU in 140 characters
No, that’s not a reference to the European Union’s diverse collection of fonts and languages. That’s actually the twitter challenge Sweden has set itself after kicking off its six-month European Union presidency 0n Wednesday.
Swedish Riksbank borrows from the ECB
A run of the mill central-bank currency swap or tell-tale sign of something more ominous? The jury is still out here at FT HQ –thoughts welcome.
From the Riksbank:
The Executive Board of the Riksbank has decided to borrow EUR 3 billion from the European Central Bank,
Latvian bond failure begins
Jitters surrounding the fate of Latvia and its euro currency peg appear to have taken their first victim – the 50m lat sale of Latvian government Treasury bills on Wednesday. Here’s Reuters on the story:
Staggered by Sweden
Here are some key statistical points regarding Sweden’s record GDP contraction of 6.5 per cent on the year in the first quarter, as handily compiled by Reuters:
- The contraction was the worst since the statistics office began publishing seasonally adjusted quarterly data in 1993,
Knowing our banks, knowing yours
In their latest European banking note, Citi analysts (for, errr — cough cough –they should know) look at the claim “we are all Swedish now”. That, of course, being a reference to the Swedish banking crisis in which the state nationalised two of the country’s largest public banks for a number of years at the beginning of the 1990s.
Germany softens rescue conditions; Sweden in liquidity boost
The German government softened some elements of its €500bn bank rescue scheme yesterday as arguments escalated over whether banks would be stigmatised for using the package. Banks can now apply to the newly created “financial market stabilisation fund”
Sweden braces for a Baltic backlash
Sweden’s banking system is solid, officials in Stockholm said on Monday. So solid, in fact, that the government is introducing a bank borrowings guarantee of $205bn.
There will also be a financial stabilisation fund ready for any financial institution that runs into a solvency problem.
Chemotherapy or morphine?
Merrill Lynch analysts seem to know which they’d prefer. In a rare glimpse of optimism this morning, analyst Michael Hartnett sees the failure of Congress to approve the Tarp/EESA yesterday as potentially clearing the way for a much-improved bailout plan – something along the lines of the Swedish model.
Sweden’s stake sale promises huge fees
One of the world’s most lucrative investment banking mandates will come up for grabs in October when the Swedish government decides which banks will advise it on the sale of its multi-billion dollar stakes in a range of state-owned companies.
Vin & Sprit warns of rushed sale in Swedish sell-off
In the strongest comments yet to be made by a chief executive of the companies put up for sale by the Swedish government, Bengt Baron, chief executive of Vin & Sprit, has said that the government is rushing the sale of the drinks company,