Henrique de Campos Meirelles assesses the achievements of the Lula administration in leading Brazil out of crisis.Brazil is living through a time of hope, in which it is re-discussing its past and its present in order to create a new future. Today, it is clear that this new future may be quite different and much better than the one envisaged at the beginning of 2003.
Investment bankers in Spain are looking forward to an active 2004 as Spanish companies lift their heads above the parapet with repaired balance sheets and more positive stockmarket sentiment. This follows two years, 2001 and 2002, which Antonio Rodriguez-Pina, president of Credit Suisse First Boston (Espana) calls “the worst and most difficult of the last 20 years”.
In 1987 ge had 7,500 employees in Europe. It now has 75,000, split between financial and industrial services. Andrew Moore from GE Consumer Finance (a division with $77bn of total assets) and Ivan Royle, director of communications for financial services at GE Capital Europe, gave The Banker a few tips from this serial acquirer:
Dear EditorI have been following the debate about Basel II in The Banker with interest. To use an insurance analogy, moving from a flat-rate method of assessing motor premiums to one in which premiums depend on the driver’s accident history inevitably provokes opposition from learner drivers and those with poor accident records. But safe drivers are not treated fairly by a flat rate approach. The Basel Committee has been exceptionally transparent in the development of its proposals and this has manifested itself in the controversy reflected in your columns.
The dynamic Spain of today is a far cry from the backward country of the Franco era more than 25 years ago. The economic and social transformation has been remarkable and this month The Banker talks to some of the key architects of the change. Rodrigo Rato, Spain’s finance minister, explains the successes and the challenges ahead while Francisco González, president of BBVA, and Javier Valls, chairman of Banco Popular, give the banker’s perspective. And Karina Robinson continues our Spanish foray, with a broad-ranging interview with Jaime Caruana, governor of the Bank of Spain and chairman of the BaselCommittee.