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Location : Ether-Sphere Job/hobbies : Irrationality Exterminator Humor : Über Serious
| Subject: Jitters Mount Over Prospect of Catalonian Independence Wed Mar 26, 2014 2:40 am | |
| “President, you are making a grave mistake.”
These are the words that Isidro Fainé, the CEO of Catalonia’s megabank La Caixa, is alleged to have said to the region’s president, Artur Mas, during a private face-to-face meeting last year.
Like many of Spain’s business and finance big shots, Fainé is growing a little jittery over the prospect of Catalonian independence; the last thing transnational companies or banks want is for new national borders to be erected that restrict their flow of trade or capital.
An unofficial, symmetric trade boycott has already taken its toll on both the Spanish and Catalonian economies. Not even Spain’s biggest bank, Banco Santander, has escaped the fallout. An associate of mine who works for the bank recently reported losing a high-net worth Catalan client, with over four million euros invested in the bank. The customer had taken offence to Santander President Emilio Botin’s criticism of the Catalonian independence movement.
For Catalan banks such as La Caixa and Banco Sabadell, the stakes are even higher since so much of their business is based in Spain’s north-eastern province. Indeed, as the governor of the Bank of Spain, Luis María Linde, warned late last year, the Catalan independence movement could even pose an existential threat to the region’s banks.
Like all European commercial banks, La Caixa and Banc de Sabadell depend on the European Central Bank (ECB) for liquidity. But the ECB is only sanctioned to provide credit lines to banks of EU Member States, and only accepts assets issued by agents of the eurozone as guarantees for that liquidity. In other words, if Catalonia were ejected from the EU after declaring independence, its banks could well be starved of all liquidity. That’s not to mention the capital flight that would also no doubt ensue.
Hence, Fainé’s frantic lobbying efforts to try to change Mas’ course.
More: http://www.testosteronepit.com/home/2014/3/23/jitters-mount-over-prospect-of-catalonian-independence.html _________________ Anarcho-Capitalist, AnCaps Forum, Ancapolis, OZschwitz Contraband “The state calls its own violence law, but that of the individual, crime.”-- Max Stirner "Remember: Evil exists because good men don't kill the government officials committing it." -- Kurt Hofmann |
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