Published on 7 August 2022
I was delighted to read the article (more like a dissertation) called ‘The Great Game Will Never End: Why the Global Financial Crisis Is Bound to Be Repeated’ which was published in the Journal of Risk and Financial Management and written by my good friend Professor David Blake of the Finance […]
Published on 5 August 2022
Germany has been resistant to many measures of the European Central Bank, not least the size of its bond-buying programmes and its latest ‘Transmission Protection Mechanism’ approved at the main meeting of July 2022. The aim of the ‘TPM’ is to avoid ‘fragmentation’, meaning the yields on the bonds issued by […]
Published on 4 August 2022
Two countries are currently in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism II – Bulgaria and Croatia. ERM II is the Euro waiting room. Croatia has now passed the tests to get on the plane – but should it pause and apply some tests to the Euro itself?
We recently ran some tests on […]
Published on 10 July 2022
I had the top ‘Reader’s Letter’ published by the Daily Telegraph on 9 June 2022, occasioned by an email to all Tory party members by the Supreme Leader, telling us all the things that weren’t in the 2019 Manifesto that were now going to happen, and avoiding mention of everything in […]
Published on 23 May based on an article first published on News Uncut on 21 May 2022
The Queen’s Speech, delivered on 10 May 2022, promises legal protection for access to physical cash. The protection is to be afforded in a new Financial Services and Markets Bill (the ‘Bill’). One might be forgiven for believing that […]
Balances of banks sitting in the Eurosystem and percentage of respective country’s GDP
Published on 10 May 2022 and as previously published by irefeurope.org but with more detail behind the numbers
The European Central Bank (ECB) held its latest Governing Council meeting on 14 April 2022 and issued its normal press release. It issued its longer ‘Combined […]
The subscribed and paid capital contributions of the 19 ESM members
Published on 7 April 2022 where the underlying article was published for the first time on www.brexit-watch.org on 6 April 2022
The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is the main Eurozone bailout fund should further members be unable to access capital markets directly: the ESM would finance […]
Government announcement of the Spring Statement CASHBACK
Published on 24 March 2022
Mr Sunak’s Spring Statement was far less impressive than his rhetoric has made it appear. Once again a senior member of this administration reaches a Gold Standard in rhetoric, but at best a Bronze one in achievement. The claim does not stand up to examination […]
Original IREF article of 16 March 2022 accessed on 21 March 2022
Published on 23 March 2022
The EU recently announced partial financial sanctions on Russia, designed to keep payments for energy moving. The EU accepted the contention – disproved below – that a bank either gets cut off from SWIFT, the global financial telecommunications network, completely […]
Original Brexit-Watch.org article
Published on 18 March 2022
Our Brexit-Watch.org article last week showed how tax-leveraged leasing through Ireland was a major contributor to the BigTech and Biotech companies minimizing their corporation tax payments:https://www.brexit-watch.org/irelands-fear-of-depending-on-foreign-companies-tax-receipts-is-unfounded-for-the-wrong-reasonsWhilst Rishi Sunak’s much-trumpeted minimum 15% global corporation tax rate won’t have any effect at all, the Kremlin has intervened by passing a law […]