Europe could see a wave of bank mergers under Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM)
‘WE NEED PROFITABLE, VIABLE AND STABLE BANKS’ ECB VICE PRESIDENT TELLS DUBLIN CONFERENCE
European Central Bank vice president Vitor Constancio said today the region could see a wave of bank mergers as the presence of the Single Supervisory Mechanism prompts deeper integration.
“The weak profitability and excess capacity of the European banking sector suggests that efficiency gains could be achieved,” Mr Constancio said at an event in Dublin today.
“I would not be surprised if the SSM would open a period of restructuring in the European banking sector.”
The Frankfurt-based ECB is set to assume oversight of euro- area lenders in November 2014, as part of a regional banking union that aims to fix some of the faults of monetary union.
The ECB has already started to examine bank balance sheets and has encouraged financial institutions to raise capital ahead of the publication of results next year.
“MandA activity has been very weak in the euro area since the crisis — from 2008 to 2012 the overall value of deals decreased fourfold to just €10 billion ,” Mr Constancio said.
“I expect this process of restructuring to be driven first and foremost by the incentives of the private sector to raise profitability and increase returns on assets.”
Modern methods
Mr Constancio said the ECB will use the most modern, forward- looking methods once it takes over supervision and push forward harmonization of banking practices across the region.
The ECB will directly supervise about 130 of the euro area’s biggest banks, including Deutsche Bank AG and IntesaSanpaolo Spa, and has the right to intervene directly in any lender in the currency bloc.
“The SSM will have to address the problems created by the heterogeneity in the way that banks calculate risk-weighted assets,” Mr Constancio said.
“Investors seem to still have concerns about their robustness due to lack of transparency on how they calibrate their internal risk models, as well as differences in how models are validated across jurisdictions.”
In addition, the ECB will promote a more standardized treatment of banks’ bad loans, Mr Constancio said.
While the London-based European Banking Authority criteria on defining NPLs will take time to implement, the ECB will “adopt its own simplified standards” as it checks balance sheets, he said.
Viable banks
“We will explain by end of January the methodology of an enhancement of this simplified version,” Mr Constancio told reporters.
“The EBA has two models; a more complex one and a more simplified one. The solution for the comprehensive assessment will be something between the two.”
A decline in the size of the banking industry in Europe can be expected, Mr Constancio said, as well as a shift away from a bank-based model for funding the economy to greater importance for capital markets.
“The euro area would greatly benefit from deepening debt capital markets for long-term financing, in particular for infrastructure projects,” Mr Constancio said.
Even so, “I do not think we should go too far in the opposite direction and replicate the US model” of high reliance on capital markets, he said.
“A balanced funding mix is best for financial stability,” according to Mr Constancio. “We need to have profitable, viable and stable banks in the euro area.”
Irish Teachers could be first public servants to lose jobs
Irish Teachers in up to 30 schools face losing their jobs next year if the ASTI rejects the Haddington Road pay and productivity deal again.
It would be the first time that compulsory redundancies would be imposed, not only on teachers, but among permanent and pensionable staff in the public service.
The Department of Education has circulated a list of schools where teachers are at risk of redundancy if their union does not sign up to the agreement.
It covers up to 48 teaching posts in 29 named schools where the Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) has members.
The list, circulated to union leaders and school management bodies, does not identify individual staff, and if redundancies were to happen it would be up to a school to decide who was surplus to requirements.
It will raise tensions as the dispute between ASTI and Government reaches a critical stage, with the union recommending another “no” vote in a ballot on the HRA, starting this week.
As the ASTI prepares for its third ballot, Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has warned that the Government will take a hard line if the ASTI does not accept the deal.
Schools have already suffered disruption because of ASTI industrial action, and if the dispute continues, chaos is threatened in the 70pc of second-level schools where ASTI has members.
The department does a teacher ‘stock-take’ every year, but this year’s list takes on a particular relevance because of the ASTI’s resistance to the HRA.
The 17,000-member union is the only one not to have accepted the deal, and, for teachers, a downside of not signing up is the threat of redundancy if they become surplus to requirements in their school.
The list is provisional and subject to verification when the department completes processing of the annual September 30 returns from schools.
It is also subject to appeal by individual schools.
If redundancies were to take place, it would be before the start of the next school year, in September.
The teaching posts involved are what is known as “ex quota”, which means they are above the official staffing allocation for the school based on its enrolments.
This generally happens where the number of pupils in a school has dropped to below the Department of Education-approved figure for the number of teachers.
It can arise where there has been a fall-off in enrolments to a school, or where the Department of Education has imposed a change in the pupil-teacher ratio.
A worsening of the pupil-teacher ratio in fee-paying schools in recent years may explain why this sector is strongly represented on the list.
While the deal has led to negative changes in terms and conditions, one of its benefits is continuing protection from compulsory redundancy.
Teachers employed on a permanent full-time basis or those with a Contract of Indefinite Duration are guaranteed redeployment if they become surplus to requirements in a school. But the scheme will not continue to operate for teachers if their union has not accepted the HRA.
QUOTA
ASTI general secretary Pat King confirmed that the union had received the list from the department “for schools which are over quota” and the union had informed the schools.
He added the union had told its members that in the event of rejecting the latest proposals, the department had stated that the redeployment arrangements and protections would not apply to ASTI members.
Mr King said the ASTI would consider any move to make teachers redundant as “totally unacceptable”.
A department spokesperson confirmed it had circulated a “factual document setting out the over-quota position as of now. We have made it clear to unions and management that this might change, depending on information on enrolments based on the September 2013 returns. This information has been provided to union and management and we won’t be commenting further”.
Drugs to treat male sexual problems improve sex life but might not improve relationships
Medical treatments help men who have difficulty getting erections, but they don’t have an effect on overall quality of life, a review of studies shows.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ALREADY?
There are good treatments available for erection problems that can help men who can’t have an erection or keep one for long enough to have satisfying sex. In the UK, three tablets are approved to treat erection problems – sildenafil (brand name Viagra), tadalafil (name Cialis), and vardenafil (Levitra).
We know from previous studies that these treatments can help men to get erections when they are sexually excited. But there’s less evidence about whether the treatments help people feel more satisfied with their relationships, or have a better quality of life.
So, researchers reviewed published studies that looked at whether treatments for erection problems made a difference to men’s quality of life. They looked at 40 studies of men aged between 45 and 65 years old. The men in the studies had experienced erection problems for at least six months, but had no other major illnesses that might have caused their erection problems. Some of the men were given tablets for erection problems and some were given dummy pills (placebo).
WHAT DOES THE NEW STUDY SAY?
As expected, the treatments all helped men with their erection problems.
Men who took tablets for erection problems had more self-esteem and confidence than before having treatment, and were more satisfied with the sexual aspect of their relationships than men who took a dummy treatment.
In some studies, a few men who had erection problems also had symptoms of depression. These men were less likely to have symptoms of depression after having treatment for their erection problems. But the review found the treatments didn’t make any difference to how generally satisfied men were or how happy they were overall in their relationships.
HOW RELIABLE ARE THE FINDINGS?
It can be useful to review different studies to see how well a treatment works. The findings of reviews are usually more reliable when the studies looked at in the review are quite similar. In this case, the researchers say that the studies were quite different, and this might limit how much we can generalise from their results.
Most studies in this review lasted between six and twelve weeks, which might not be long enough to make a difference to how happy people feel about life or their relationships. In some studies, men were only included if they had been in a stable relationship for at least six months, in which case they already may have been fairly happy and there may not have been much of a change after treatment.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR ME?
The researchers say it’s important that men with erection problems don’t downplay the importance of how sexual problems can affect their happiness and relationships. If you are having sexual problems, drugs can improve your ability to get erections. But they can’t affect how you feel about your life and your partner. Other treatments, like psychosexual counselling, may help with sexual problems caused by your emotions. To find out more about psychosexual counselling, speak to your doctor.
Remember the morning after feeling while out celebrating Xmas
drinkaware.ie and the Road Safety Authority are reminding all drivers to remember the ‘Morning After’ when they are out celebrating over the Christmas period.
Launching this year’s campaign to reduce the incidence of ‘Morning After’ drink driving over Christmas, drinkaware.ie and the Road Safety Authority are challenging Ireland’s drivers with the question “You’d never ever drink or drive. Or would you?”
The message is simple: it takes your body roughly ONE HOUR to get rid of ONE STANDARD DRINK. That’s one hour for a half a pint, or a small glass of wine or a pub measure of spirits, and two hours for a pint to be eliminated from your body. The secret to sobering up is TIME – no amount of coffee, energy drinks, cold showers or breakfast rolls will speed up the process. You might feel better but it doesn’t mean you are fit to drive.
According to official Garda figures, over 400 incidents of “drivers under the influence” were detected in the hours of 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings in the period from January 1st to September 27th 2013.
In that period, on Saturday mornings, a total of 101 such detections were made by Gardai; on Sunday mornings the number was 208, more than five times greater than the mid-week detection figure. On Mondays, between 8 a.m. and 1 p.m. over that period, a total of 94 incidents of “drivers under the influence” were reported.
Half of the drivers involved were less than 35 years old, peaking in the 30-34 age group
Britain’s £85 billion bill for climate policies
A new study claims Britain’s climate change initiatives are both ‘staggeringly costly and excessive’
About £47.6 billion will go on funding green levies, such as subsidies for wind farms, added to consumer fuel bills Photo: PA
Climate-change policies are expected to cost Britain more than £80 billion by the end of the decade, as critics warn that the global-warming industry is spiralling out of control.
Vast sums are being spent on initiatives ranging from climate-change officers in local councils to the funding of “low carbon” agriculture in Colombia at a cost of £15 million alone. Billions of pounds are also being added to fuel bills to pay for green policies.
The full cost is contained in a study published on Monday by the Global Warming Policy Foundation, a think tank founded by Lord Lawson, the former chancellor.
Its analysis puts the cost to the British public of climate- change policies at £85 billion in the 10 years to 2021. More than half — about £47.6 billion — will have gone on funding green levies, such as subsidies for wind farms, added to consumer fuel bills.
A further £17 billion will have been spent by government departments and quangos, according to the study.
The rest — about £20 billion — will have gone to the European Union for global-warming initiatives.
Last month, the EU’s commissioner for climate action said that a fifth of the EU’s £805 billion budget from 2014 to 2020 would go on “climate-related spending”. Britain contributes about an eighth of the total EU budget.
Benny Peiser, the foundation’s director, who compiled the report, said: “The public has absolutely no idea how staggeringly costly and excessive the Government’s climate initiatives are. Even we were shocked when we discovered the astronomical funding streams and added them up.
“Britain’s climate policies combine to a mind-boggling amount of subsidies and departmental spending, which will drastically increase in the next few years.”
Dr Peiser said Britain needed urgently to rethink its climate policies. “Major economies such as Canada, Australia and Japan have now begun to curtail and abandon their unilateral climate policies and targets,” he said. “It does not make any sense that the UK alone is accelerating its exorbitant spending.”
Although the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) sets policies on green levies, much direct spending comes from other departments and quangos, such as the Department for International Development (DfID), which the foundation estimates spends £610 million a year on climate initiatives overseas.
The study also found more than £2 billion is being spent by the Department for Environment, Farming and Rural Affairs on climate-change policies over a decade; £1.5 billion by the Department for Transport; and £1.3 billion by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.
Quangos spending millions include the Committee on Climate Change and the Carbon Trust, the study says. Ofgem, the energy regulator, is investing nearly £100 million over three years in “contributing to the achievement of a low-carbon sector” and delivering of government programmes “for a sustainable energy section”.
An EU database of UK schemes details 185 payments totalling £1.5 billion to overseas projects.
By contrast, France’s spending totals £275 million.
British spending includes:
Þ about £135,000 a year by local authorities on climate-change officers;
Þ a £15 million grant over four years in Colombia to “reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, improve the livelihood of farmers, protect local forests and increase biodiversity”;
Þ £323,000 on a pilot programme for “climate resilience in Tajikistan”;
Þ £7 million on a “Carbon Markets Readiness Fund”, to give grants to “middle-income” countries, such as China, to develop policies to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions;
Þ £35,000 on a report on how climate changes might affect the Caribbean tourism sector.
A DECC spokesman said: “The evidence for climate change is clear, and we need to act now. Alongside this, the Government needs to ensure security of energy supply, whilst ensuring consumers get the best deal.
“Our long-term economic and climate security depends on developing countries being more low-carbon and adapting to the impact of climate change. Climate investments in developing countries represent about 0.05 per cent of UK gross national income.”
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