Western Europe Archives

Join the global community of corporate and public-sector finance industry leaders reading Global Finance monthly in print.

Click Here

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

Milestones: Vodafone-India Dispute Casts Doubt On Tax Havens Future

MILESTONES: GLOBAL By Ronald Fink Cross-border dealmakers are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a long-running tax battle between UK telecom giant Vodafone and the Indian government. Photo Credits: VODAFONE: CLIVE CHILVERS / Shutterstock.com The dispute dates back to ...

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

Corporate SEPA Migration

LATE THROUGH THE GATE By Rebecca Brace With less than a year to go before the SEPA migration end date of February 1, 2014, companies operating in Europe must get migration projects under way or face disruptions to ...

Banking

Milestones: Italy Coughs And The Rest Of Europe Sneezes

MILESTONES: ITALY By Valentina Pasquali The general elections held in Italy in February yielded a hung parliament, marked the phenomenal rise of the little-understood protest movement of former comedian Beppe Grillo, and unexpectedly revived the flagging political career of former ...

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

Milestones: ORIX Paves The Way For More Asia-Europe Deals

MILESTONES: GLOBAL By Gilly Wright Japanese financial group ORIX’s acquisition of a 90.1% share of Dutch asset management company Robeco from Rabobank for $2.6 billion is both the largest Japanese outbound deal so far this year and a reflection of ...

Banking

Milestones: Shareholder Say On Pay Takes Form

MILESTONES: EUROPE By Anita Hawser Billed as a major blow to the UK’s status as a global financial services hub, the European Parliament and council sent a clear message in February about bank bonuses, reaching an agreement that bankers’ bonuses ...

Banking

Cover: Reinventing The Swiss Bank

ADAPT TO SURVIVE By Michael Shari A unique banking system long revered as a safe haven for the world’s tax dodgers now faces gut-wrenching transformation in order to endure. For centuries Swiss banks have thrived on absolute ...

Economics, Policy & Regulation

Milestone: Spain Cuts Red Tape In An Effort To Help Businesses

MILESTONE: SPAIN By Forrest Jones Spain wants to make life a little easier for its business sector. Recently, Madrid drafted legislation to make it simpler for companies to conduct business in different autonomous regions within the country ...

Banking

Milestone: The World’S Oldest Surviving Bank Faces A Bleak Future

MILESTONE: ITALY By Luca Ventura The oldest bank in the world, Tuscany’s Monte dei Paschi di Siena, came close to ending its 540-year history late in January, when it revealed losses of up to €750 million ($1 billion) caused ...

Emerging & Frontier Markets

Newsmaker: Turkey’s PM Gives EU Ultimatum Over Membership

NEWSMAKER TURKEY By Valentina Pasquali Conveying the feelings of a large swath of the Turkish population, which is increasingly tired of the stalled accession negotiations with the European Union, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan recently threatened to abandon ...

Award Winners

Safest Banks In Western Europe: April 2013

GLOBAL FINANCE names the Safest Banks In Western Europe: April 2013 NEW YORK, February 26, 2013 Global Finance magazine (GFmag.com)...

Capital Raising & Corporate Finance

Milestone: Basel III Liquidity Reprieve Welcomed By Most

MILESTONESGLOBAL By Luca Ventura “For the first time in regulatory history, we have a truly global minimum standard for bank liquidity,” announced the head of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, Bank of England governor Mervyn King, during a ...

Banking

Milestone: Enforcement Will Only Get Tougher Under New FSA Regime

MILESTONES: UK By Anita Hawser After four years under a shadow, the UK’s Financial Services Authority is once again being held up as a model financial regulator — both for its principles-based approach to reporting and for its ability to ...