Celia Ruiz Alfonsea

The expiration of ECB Vice-President Vítor Constancio's term in June and the subsequent appointment of Luis de Guindos as his successor marked the beginning of the European Central Bank’s senior management renewal. But, how are ECB executive board members appointed?

The negotiations between Mexico, the U.S., and Canada have been a recurring topic in the news recently. BBVA Research has used big data techniques to monitor the media coverage and tone used by the national media outlets in each North American country as the slow-going renegotiation of this agreement has been reported.

The European Commission enters the final stretch of its mandate. The commissioners who took office in 2014 will leave their posts after the next European elections (in May 2019). Before the current members of the Commission and the European Parliament are replaced, both institutions will conclude negotiations and approval of some of the EU's priority measures.

EBITDA, or Earnings Before Interests, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization, is an accounting measure that shows the gross income before financial expenses are deducted, and which allows financial analysts to assess the behavior and financial standing of companies.

International investment in infrastructure projects continues to be insufficient. This is the conclusion reached at the B20 summit where global companies provided guidance to the G20. According to the task force charged with studying growth and infrastructure financing, the infrastructure investment gap needs to be resolved to exploit the sector's enormous potential and drive more inclusive development.

The European Union is already readying itself for the possible exit of the United Kingdom from the European club without an agreement between the two sides. Although no scenario has been ruled out, Miguel Jiménez, the chief economist for Europe at BBVA Research, argued in a recent article published in El País that “a no-deal exit in March, with no transitional period, is no longer inconceivable”. In his opinion, this would be the worst possible outcome of Brexit.

The European Central Bank on Thursday announced it is maintaining its monetary policy unchanged. Interest rates will remain at current levels until the summer of 2019 or “as long as necessary”, as announced in its June meeting. In doing so, ECB President Mario Draghi gave no further clarification on the next steps in the bank’s roadmap and intoned the mantra of prudence and patience.

There's a fix for confusing economic terms or not being up-to-date with financial news: “influencers” aren't just gamers or it-girls; many experts in the finance domain use the virtual world to provide information, data, and opinions about financial and economic topics.

The European Council meeting held on June 28 and 29 took some steps toward euro reform; conclusion of agreements will likely occur at the next meeting in December. Although it was hoped that the summit would address key questions like the budget proposed by Germany and France, ultimately the European partners chose to adopt a minimum agreement. The agreement includes measures such as support for a banking resolution fund, but the reform of the euro was deferred.

At its meeting on June 14, the European Central Bank (ECB) set an expiry date for the asset purchase program: December of this year. The program, which started in March 2015, is now approaching its end. It forms part of the non-standard measures that Mario Draghi's institution implemented during the toughest years of the economic crisis. What do they consist of?

The Council of Europe will hold its June summit at a complex time with significant challenges on economic, political, and social issues. As BBVA Research points out, it also represents an opportunity to further strengthen the EU's Economic and Monetary Union. As such, the reform of the euro will be one of the decisive elements, although also one of the most controversial.

Interest rate, risk diversification and fixed-income assets are some of the financial concepts that most people have to deal with at one point or other. Do we really know what we are talking about? According to the Financial Skills Survey carried out by the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), 46 percent of Spaniards rate their financial knowledge as “low” or “very low”. Only 8 percent say it is “high”.

The European Commission has presented its proposal on developing a new class of low-risk assets in the form of sovereign bond-backed securities (SBBS). The new security, whose goal is to enhance diversification and reduce sovereign bond risk in the euro zone, was included in the European Commission’s roadmap. The plan unveiled in December 2017 aims to deepen European Economic and Monetary Union.

Emerging economies were amongst the topics addressed at the Institute of International Finance’s (IIF) spring meeting, held in Brussels last week. This BBVA-sponsored event convened financial institutions, regulators and public bodies to debate some of the industry’s most pressing issues, including the economic and political outlook, regulation and fintech.

Mª Ángeles Peláez, Head of Group Financial Accounting at BBVA, underscored the importance of the role of the expert accountant in correctly interpreting the wording of regulations in an environment of constant regulatory change. This was one of the subjects debated at the workshop on Standardization and Accounting Law organized by the Spanish Association of Accounting and Business Administration (AECA) at BBVA’s headquarters in Madrid.

Of the tax revenue paid by Europeans, only one euro per taxpayer is used to finance the EU's budget. In total, the EU manages a budget of about 1% of the gross national income of its member states. Nonetheless, how this money is invested directly impacts Europeans’ lives; it is therefore of interest to understand the EU budget as of 2021, the first spending plan after the UK's exit from the EU.

As expected, the European Central Bank left interest rates and its asset-purchasing program, or quantitative easing (QE), unchanged. After its policy meeting, Mario Draghi instead stressed concerns about the global risks posed by protectionism as well as the need to focus on inflation.

The creation of a Single European Market without borders or customs duties is considered one of the greatest achievements of the European Union. The common market is now 25 years old and finds itself at a moment of crucial change in which digital disruption requires new products and services to be regulated.