"The corporate brand is not only used to improve competitive
positioning and express company aspirations, it can also be a powerful
tool to motivate employees."
Republished from the Benche, a financial community for corporate treasurers.
Lots of new country reports can now be found on the Benche. If you click on one of the countries below the report will be opened in a separate window. For more reports go to Country Reports here on the Benche.
European regulators in countries throughout Europe are in the midst of proposing a wave of new regulations to resolve the current crisis and reduce the threat of future ones. So is the European Commission. But not all of the regulators’ proposals are complementary, which could lead to a wealth of difficulties should conflicting proposals go forward in different jurisdictions, especially if they contradict EC proposals.
As the WSJ reported on Friday, the EC has set out numerous draft proposals in further efforts to improve banking market strength—proposing a maximum limit on board memberships for individuals; forbidding individuals from being both CEO and chairman of a given company; setting risk management responsibility at board level; restricting pay packages for top executives; and consolidating oversight of rating agencies under a new EU agency that can levy fees, set penalties and demand information. The proposed new rating agency overseer is a change from proposals made by the EC last fall, which left oversight to each country.
As a follow-up to yesterday's rant, I see that investors are applauding the moves of European governments to reduce their budget deficits, as if the answer to deflation is more deflation.
Hasn't anyone ever heard of Keynes and the false dawn of 1937?
I really don't understand what the Times means when it says the European Central Bank lacks certain powers that the Federal Reserve has.
Yes, the ECB lacks the Fed's dual mandate: The ECB's mission is price stability alone, not that plus full employment. Nor does it have access to a government treasury. But what practical effect does any of this have? None that I can see.
The violent backlash against the rescue plan that Europe has come up with for Greece should be a warning sign for those who think the bond market should rule public policy.
Yes, Greece must get its act together in terms of the black market and corruption, and tighten its belt on public finances. It simply has no other choice. But austerity isn't going to help the country repay its debt, not when the global economy continues to suffer from weak demand.
US multinationals with operations in Europe have been watching the rollout of the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative with both hope and trepidation. It offers the possibility of greatly-reduced costs for cross-border transactions where the euro is the functional currency. However it also requires a great deal of system overhaul for corporates wanting to take advantage of the changes. Plus, for those countries within Europe that are not yet on the euro – and for those countries that have chosen not to use the euro – companies are left to wonder what the impact will be on euro payments to and from such countries, whether their banking partners within those countries are preparing for SEPA, and how they can manage their European payments regionally given the disconnect that this creates.
SEPA is an initiative of the European Commission and European Payments Council to harmonize payments processing infrastructure, business rules and legal framework within all EU countries for euro-denominated domestic and cross-border transactions. It covers the 27 EU Member States, plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Monaco. The goal is to make all transactions cost and feel like a domestic transaction – hence Single Euro Payments Area.
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