While the EU’s political and currency projects grind to a halt in many of the big states, Malta has just joined the ERM. Next stop, the euro. Michael Imeson reports.The past few months have been tough for proponents of closer union in Europe. But in Malta, which joined the EU just over 12 months ago, the integration process continues.
Corporates’ historic avoidance of hybrid capital is giving way to enthusiasm following a change of heart by rating agencies. Now Sweden’s Vattenfall is leading the charge with a groundbreaking deal, structured by Citigroup. Edward Russell-Walling explains.
What do you call a bank that has doubled in size every year for the past eight years and that jumps 248 places in The Banker’s latest Top 1000 world banks listing to reach 211th place? Some call it a miracle. Hreidar Mar Sigurdsson, the youthful chief executive of Iceland’s Kaupthing Bank, takes a more modest approach and calls it sustained rapid growth. But how has Kaupthing catapulted itself onto the world stage, quintupled its balance sheet in the past three years and more than doubled its net earnings in 2004?
The war of words between savings banks and commercial banks is heating up as the European Commission prepares its study of obstacles to banking consolidation in the EU.“The cajas [Spanish savings banks] acquire the leftovers of bankrupt banks,” said Juan Ramón Quintás, chairman of the Confederación Española de Cajas de Ahorros (CECA) – the association of Spanish savings banks.
UniCredit, Italy’s biggest bank by market capitalisation, last month announced a €15bn deal to merge with Germany’s HypoVereinsbank.The news will be welcomed by the Italian president, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who has a background in banking and is an unapologetic enthusiast for European integration.
To make the radical change from selling products to services, Jose Valino, CIO at Spanish savings bank Caixa Galicia, uses consultants wisely and co-operates with other banks on technology development. He tells Dan Barnes about bridging the gap between the business and IT departments and helping customers to understand the new systems.
DEPFA has gone from strength to strength since it split from the Aareal mortgage bank and moved to Dublin. Jan Wagner reports from Frankfurt and Dublin on the most profitable bank active in Germany today. Germany’s mortgage banks have been partying recently. In May, Eurohypo held a bash to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the “Jumbo Pfandbrief”. Since its introduction, the high-volume Jumbo has spawned a €600bn European market.As the market leader, Eurohypo and its peers whooped it up. Attractions included plenty of champagne and an elephant installed in front of the Frankfurt stock exchange. Another Pfandbrief conference, replete with champagne, was hosted in June.