The ECB has denied that it opposed the Spanish Government’s plan to recapitalise Bankia using Spanish government debt. It has simply issued a brief official statement to the media, explaining that the ECB has not been consulted on the Spanish (bank) recapitalisation plans. But what happened a few hours earlier is more than a little curious. (more…)
We look after your interests
(+34) 93 626 47 75
Torres Sarrià, Carrer de Can Ràbia, 3-5, 4ª Planta BCN 08017
(+34) 91 794 19 82
Pº de la Castellana, 93 2nd floor MADRID 28046
No hay peor fracaso que el de quien renuncia al éxito. Algo parecido les ocurre a los fondos de inversión que se ciñen a sus índices de referencia, confiados en que, a pesar de su mediocridad, las entidades para las que trabajan no van a tener ningún problema en comercializar masivamente dichos fondos, y jamás les culparán por no brillar. La capacidad comercial de una entidad bancaria es directamente proporcional a la mediocridad de sus productos de inversión. Será por aquello de que el hambre agudiza el ingenio, y los gestores de fondos de gestoras independientes (que no pertenecen a bancos, al menos directamente) sólo pueden competir por hacerse un sitio en el escenario de la venta de inversiones, demostrando pura calidad y superioridad en los rendimientos en comparación con sus competidores. 
Hay algo peor que ser pobre e insolvente, y es que además se deba esconder la misera y simular opulencia y grandeza. ¡Ay de quien deba disfrazarse de rico, sin serlo, para poder subsistir en su negocio! Porque la insolvencia y la pobreza, con sinceridad y honradez se tornan más dignas, más esperanzadas y menos miserables. Y es que dedicarse a un negocio, como el bancario, que necesariamente obliga a quien lo ejerce a simular riqueza y solidez para ganarse la confianza de sus clientes, es algo con lo que se puede convivir cuando realmente la entidad bancaria es rica y solvente. Pero cuando el negocio se tuerce y el apalancamiento intrínseco a la propia actividad bancaria se come con patatas la solvencia y la solidez de las entidades, esa fachada de opulencia se convierte en una macabra mentira, que acaba con la pérdida esquizofrénica de todo contacto con la realidad (como dijimos en
We are in the eye of the storm. But not because of injustice or envy of our northern neighbours—no—but because of our own foolishness. That foolishness which has led us in the past to vote for governments of both political stripes, yet with one thing in common: an inability to manage the Spanish economy. We have missed a golden opportunity, given that economic growth and the surge in job creation in the Eurozone allowed us to boast of macroeconomic figures that made even those of France itself pale in comparison. And so Zapatero proclaimed on occasion, although today it is the Mercozy duo who must stifle their feelings in the face of the grotesque and surreal tragicomedy of the current periphery. «Spain is doing well,» we proclaimed to the four winds just a decade ago. Those were years when illusions of grandeur led the presidents of Spain and Portugal to meet in the Azores with the very presidents of the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Aznar, Barroso, Blair and Bush together shaping the plans that were to govern the New World Order. That was only nine years ago, but it seems so long ago…
Ya es un 
First of all, we must tell you that the subject we are going to deal with today is complex and may offend some professional sensibilities. But that is not our intention at all, but rather our interest is focused on clarifying a situation that is currently generating a lot of confusion and, more importantly, is damaging families with a certain amount of wealth. Both large fortunes and small savers. We will therefore discuss, for example, Santander's convertible bonds, the recent inflammatory statements by Greg Smith (ex-Goldman Sachs), the types of assets that a properly diversified wealth should contain, the Spanish and Luxembourg regulators, banking, EAFIs, Family Office, or how to distinguish between a perverse advice and a perverse advice. comme il faut. We apologise for the length of the post, but we have chosen to publish it in its entirety so as not to lose the thread in the middle of the reflections that follow. 
That exceptional measures should be taken in exceptional situations is pure common sense. And the 
This week I came across an article published in FundsPeople titled «
Knowing which types of assets or which companies’ shares are going to skyrocket in the coming months is the pipe dream of those who, rather than investing, speculate. Of those who are hoping for a windfall to bail them out of the financial difficulties they have got themselves into through their own foolishness. But even if Lady Luck were to smile on them, their poor judgement would remain just as bad. Consequently, they will believe themselves to be shrewd investors rather than merely lucky, and their cycle of financial difficulties, windfalls and further difficulties will repeat itself, at best. In the long run, the result for most of them is that their forays as speculators (even though they describe themselves as investors), far from supplementing their income, cost them a significant portion of the wages they have earned through the sweat of their brow over the years. And if at any point they were to make an objective calculation of their gains and losses—something they consciously or unconsciously avoid doing—the balance sheet would reveal the harsh reality: that throughout their investing lives, a large part of their own and their families’ well-being has been taken by Mr Market.