Where finance and media intersect with reality

European financiers fret over US debt ceiling “collateral damage” (POLITICO)

By Ben Munster · May 26, 2023 Panic in Europe? Over a U.S. debt default? Surely not … well, maybe. Just a little. OK, quite a lot, to judge by an awkward exchange at the International Capital Markets Association’s annual bash in Paris on Thursday. “My question,” AXA Investment Management fixed-income chief Hans Stoter told […]

Regulators threaten to rain on Tether’s parade (POLITICO)

By Bjarke Smith-Meyer, Ben Munster · May 19, 2023 BRUSSELS — Few expected Tether, the world’s most prominent stablecoin, to survive the crypto market meltdown. Instead, the issuer of dollar-pegged digital tokens revealed it was thriving by this month posting a first-quarter profit of $1.5 billion that left most of its rivals in its wake. […]

The battle for your savings is JUST beginning (POLITICO)

By Bjarke Smith-Meyer – May 5, 2023 There’s a turf war going on for your savings. At stake are over $16 trillion worth of deposit balances in the European Union alone, vital to banks’ capacity to keep credit flowing to small businesses and individuals. This is especially the case in Europe which relies far more […]

The military-civil fusion at the heart of the new dollar order (POLITICO)

By Izabella Kaminska · Apr 26, 2023, 2:22 PM To read remarks made by a string of treasury officials and central bankers in recent weeks, one thing becomes clear: It’s no longer an exaggeration to suggest the global economic system is heading toward a shift unlike anything since World War II. And what’s more, what’s […]

US takeover of French nuclear firm sparks tensions in Paris (POLITICO)

By Giorgio Leali – Apr 21, 2023 (POLITICO) PARIS — France’s feisty Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire has another opportunity to pick a fight with Washington as a sensitive investment screening case is about to land on his desk. The French government wants to prevent nuclear-submarine parts supplier Segault from falling into American hands just […]

What the hell is wrong with TikTok? (POLITICO)

By Clothilde Goujard – Mar 22, 2023 Western governments are ticked off with TikTok. The Chinese-owned app loved by teenagers around the world is facing allegations of facilitating espionage, failing to protect personal data, and even of corrupting young minds. Governments in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and across Europe have moved […]

Saving Silicon Valley Bank UK (POLITICO)

By Annabelle Dickson, Mark Scott, Tom Bristow – March 13, 2023 LONDON — British officials woke up Saturday with a ticking time bomb: find a new home for Silicon Valley Bank’s local operations or face a potential implosion to the United Kingdom’s tech sector. Amid a flurry of late-night WhatsApp messages, intensive lobbying from high-profile […]