An ambitious restructuring plan has brought the Swedish-Swiss engineering group a more positive credit rating, which in turn is translating into a healthier order book. However, unsettled asbestos claims remain a large blot on the landscape, says Geraldine Lambe.
Fannie Mae may be popular in the US but can this mortgage model cross the Atlantic? This month Geraldine Lambe analyses why Europe must choose a different approach.Seventy-seven bank chairmen/chief executives from 77 different countries are bound to produce a variety of opinions and strategies.
Geraldine Lambe reports on the storm that is raging over proposals to introduce US-style government-sponsored agencies in Europe to aid the integration of the mortgage-backed securities market. European financial markets are usually chastised for taking the interventionist rather than the market route. Europe’s bureaucracy-heavy approach is blamed for slower growth and lower production levels compared with the leaner, meaner US financial machine. But in the case of a proposal from the European Mortgage Finance Agency project group (EMFA) to create a pan-European institution, sponsored by the EU, red-tape wielding Eurocrats cannot be held responsible.