Big hit for UK’s Standard Chatered Bank on Chinese business

Original Daily Express article

This is the first in a series of three blogs that I will be releasing in quick succession, on China and the problems of British banks there.

You can access the whole article beneath the Daily Express headline via this link:

https://www.express.co.uk/finance/city/1829526/china-economy-standard-chartered-bank-contagion

Standard Chartered took two write-downs in Q3 2023.

Firstly a £596 million reduction […]

New task bolted on to European Stability Mechanism – with how much extra risk?

How the ESM now backstops the SRF

– First published by IREF Online –

Introduction

The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) will now be backstop-of-last-resort to the Eurozone banking system, in addition to backstopping the Eurozone member states and the currency itself. Its resources have not been increased, though, despite its credibility and firepower already hanging by a thread, […]

Eurozone unemployment – a testimony to the failure to create a genuinely harmonised economic zone

Daily Express headline

Eurozone unemployment is an average and disguises wide variations, with youth unemployment being unacceptably high in several Club Med countries.

That is the problem with making important policy decisions at several levels removed from economic units whose characteristics widely diverge.

The fact that this is the situation is a testament to the failure of Economic […]

The dire state of creditworthiness in the Eurozone governments and banks

I had an interview with John Butler on the state of creditworthiness amongst Eurozone governments and banks – not good!

Eurozone dream in tatters as ‘financial vandalism’ threatens EU stability

With the Eurozone’s money supply shrinking for the first time since 2010, a banking expert has said Europe’s economy has been damaged by what he called “incoherent financial vandalism”.

Bob Lyddon also believes the situation is being exacerbated by members of the EU27, whom he claims have […]

Cross-examination by contrepoints.org of my presentation in Aix-en-Provence about the European Stability Mechanism

My book, upon which all is based

After my presentation at the IES-IREF Summer School in Aix-en-Provence about the European Stability Mechanism and its dependency on France’s retaining its AA-rating, the French business website contrepoints.org asked me a series of follow up questions, and here are the answers in English.

Here is a link to the French […]

Euro is like Bitcoin, substantially without backing

Collapsing Euro is riskier than ‘gambling on Bitcoin’

The Express reinforced my Comment piece themselves the following day:https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1800197/collapsing-euro-bitcoin-gambling-debtA leading economist has warned that the Euro is only being sustained because the credit rating agencies have not downgraded Germany yet.

Writing for Express.co.uk Bob Lyddon, has warned that investing in the currency is now less safe than “gambling on bitcoin” and other crypto currencies […]

The euro – no better than bitcoin?

Keeping the flag flying for the euro

This piece appeared as a Comment in the Daily Express. It is about the implications of the European Stability Mechanism being so weak, given that it is the main backing for the euro:https://www.express.co.uk/comment/expresscomment/1799489/EU-latest-news-euro-against-pound-euro-collapse

Digital currencies – bitcoin, stablecoin, Britcoin et al – makes your head spin. The spinning has helped […]

European Stability Mechanism hanging by a thread on France’s credit rating

The Daily Express picked up on my article pubished through IREF about the European Stability Mechanism:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1797868/eurozone-euro-eu-france-credit-rating

The ESM’s firepower – to back the debts of Eurozone member states and thereby to act as the backstop for the currency itself – depends upon its having backers of sufficient size and with high enough credit ratings.

The credit rating […]

UK’s debt is NOT larger than the EU’s

Bruges Group book summary

The Campaign for an Independent Britain published this piece that the UK’s debt is not larger than the EU’s as the Daily Telegraph had claimed, if the EU member states’ shadow debts and contingent liabilities are factored in:https://cibuk.org/eurozone-debt-dwarfs-that-of-the-uk/

My figures on the EU are drawfrom my book ‘The shadow liabilities of EU Member […]