Poste Italiane Could Be Partner for Digital Euro, Cipollone Says
The ECB is looking for partners to carry the project over 'the last mile' of implementation once it has been set up, Cipollone said, speaking at an online ASviS event.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
33 minutes ago
- CNBC
Global week ahead: Banking bellwethers and a tariffs waiting game
Next week, the CNBC teams are back on the road – and it's all about the banks and the ECB. From Frankfurt to Milan, and Paris to London, the financials are in focus. The markets seem to be banking on the financial sector to keep up the positive earnings momentum this quarter. Citi described the first quarter as "remarkably resilient," with analysts now expecting Stoxx 600 earnings-per-share growth to turn positive year-on-year this quarter. Much of that optimism is centered on the big banks, while other sectors like luxury, autos and energy have been plagued by earnings downgrades. Unicredit kicks things off on Wednesday. The Italian banking giant will try to keep investors focused on the numbers, rather than its M&A ambitions. While its moves around Commerzbank have seen it increase its equity stake to 20%, Saxo Bank analysts highlight the uncertainty around its potential takeover of Banco BPM, after an Italian court blocked the move until further conditions are met. The stock is up over 50% so far this year, providing some cheer for CEO Andrea Orcel as he battles to keep his expansion plans on track. French financial BNP Paribas — the euro zone's largest lender by assets — reports earnings on Thursday. Last quarter, the bank soared past expectations driven by performance at its investment bank, but revised its profitability target slightly lower. On the same day, attention will turn to Frankfurt for Deutsche Bank's latest set of numbers. The German lender logged its best profit in 14 years last quarter, benefiting from increased trading volumes around the market volatility. CEO Christian Sewing told CNBC in June that he sees an opportunity for Europe to invest more in its own defense sector as a key growth area. For macro-watchers, the highlight of the week in Europe will come from the European Central Bank. President Christine Lagarde and her fellow policymakers are expected to keep rates on hold at 2% on Thursday. But there is a BIG catch… U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats are not expected to derail this meeting's outcome, according to Reuters, citing five ECB governing council member sources. But if Trump does push ahead with 30% tariffs on EU imports, there is a broad assumption the ECB will cut rates in response. Investors will have until Sept. 11 to assess the impact, as the ECB breaks for the summer after this week's meeting. In terms of the underlying economic conditions, Deutsche Bank warns that European inflation risks are "still being underestimated, with a remarkable complacency across key assets," with the tariff impact yet to fully trickle through. The bank's macro strategist also told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe that the Aug. 1 tariff deadline for negotiations between the U.S. and EU sets the stage for a late outcome to trigger a "very sharp market reaction."
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
'I have little sympathy for the lenders - where was the car finance value for consumers?'
Even as a child, if Aidan Rushby witnessed bullying at school the now entrepreneur's modus operandi was to come to the rescue. Fast forward several years to where Rushby set up car finance app Carmoola to help consumers and get rid the "horrendous" commissions which could see millions owed compensation following the motor loan mis-selling scandal. 'There is something about serving and helping people,' says Rushby, co-founder and CEO of the fintech start-up. It's about delivering value for consumers so they can get a great product and ultimately you can drive a great business. I love seeing customers' reactions to the product.' Read More: I ditched waking up before 5am every day to grow my luxury bedding brand Rushby knew he was on to something when his mother-in-law understood the concept of Carmoula when he pitched it to her, ahead of launching the company in late 2022. Carmoola has since processed around four million loan applications in the three years since the app first came to market — and acquired total funding to the tune of £146m. Before car financing came car washing when he set up his first business as a 15-year-old. He later set up his own motor racing team, made websites at university selling T-shirts before working in property and 'being out and about' in Bristol. In 2013, Rushby started to think about digitising the rental experience and set up his first business venture, Movebubble, which lasted seven years. 'It was painful and I made so many mistakes,' he admits. 'I had a fair amount of childhood trauma and I was in this loop of failing. I was quite persistent and kept on trying to raise money to keep it going. 'It's not a great place as an entrepreneur to fear failure as you really need to embrace it. I wasn't scared of taking risks, I was more scared of how others would perceive it if it didn't work.' Rushby, who has dyslexia, stepped away as CEO in 2021 and sensed an opportunity in the car finance market after mulling consumer business ideas in the mortgage and investment space. He tested demand with a basic landing page website under a different brand name. Within a few hours, there were hundreds of sign ups for the product offering and it gave Rushby confidence to drive the business forwards. 'I saw that consumers were being ripped off by all these traditional lenders where they were paying the dealerships massive commissions and raking up the APRs,' he says. 'I thought there was a big opportunity to go direct to the consumer and deliver a modern fintech product experience.' Read More: 'In our workplace, we look for passionate, slightly unhinged mountain climbers' There were still stumbling blocks ahead of launch as investors began to ask questions after regulatory approval took six months longer than expected. Carmoola received the green light in the same week that Russia's invasion of Ukraine escalated. With two of Rushby's co-founders and engineers hailing from Ukraine, there was a frantic move to make the border crossing to Poland before it closed a few hours later. Of Carmoola's 50 staff, half are engineers now based in Warsaw and the rest housed at the firm's Primrose Hill headquarters in London. A revenue run rate is closing in on £20m, with Carmoola growing at 150% year-on-year. Its customer support team is employed directly and based in the UK, with Rushby noting that salaries are paid above market average in a bid to be pivotal, on-hand support to its customers. 'Consumers are trusting Carmoola with a very big purchase, probably the most important purchase after their home,' he says. 'It's an incredibly stressful time for those people who can't pay their car loan. They need professionals who can help them on that journey during periods if they lose their job or something happens in the family.' Rushby is also eyeing the looming Supreme Court ruling which could see payouts for millions of drivers after dealerships increased commission without being disclosed to consumers. The Financial Conduct Authority could then set up a redress scheme for lenders to compensate consumers, while payouts could take up from six months up to one year. 'It was one reason why Carmoola was created, to get rid of the horrendous commissions,' says Rushby. 'These people [lenders] were well aware of what they were doing in terms of ripping the consumer off. I have little sympathy. The traditional process was so opaque and they were acting for their own pockets. Where was the delivery of value to the consumer?' Read More: 'I returned to my old office to sell ties after being made redundant' Carmoola's next port of call is to build out financial products centred around the vehicle by launching a leasing-style PCP product as well as car insurance. New markets' expansion outside of the UK will also be explored. One senses that with the plentiful hurdles that Rushby has overcome during his career, both privately and in business, the entrepreneur relishes opportunities to solve them. Sure enough, as a founder he admits this to being 'super fun'. 'The more scary it is, the better sometimes,' he adds. 'It's a fun intellectual challenge of how to fix these things.' View from the top: how to build a successful start-up Go with your own gut Don't look for other people to give you advice. You have to make the decisions and they come from listening to other people. Very few people have the context that you are trying to solve, so you have to form your own judgement and be disciplined as an entrepreneur. Writing a journal is powerful I write a CEO report outlining what we are doing at strategic and operational levels. It's a powerful tool to look back over time in how I was thinking at the time and whether it played out. Show value proposition To show real understanding, are you able to communicate that to somebody who has no idea? Do they get it and does it make sense to them? I pitched Carmoola to my mother-in-law and she got it straight away. I wouldn't say that is the golden rule but it is a useful way of articulating whether the business model makes sense. A step by step process This gave me a high level of confidence to make sure it would work after the lessons from my first business. What is the real size of the market? How is revenue generated and how many people are likely to use the product? How cost effective is it to acquire the customers in this space? Then it's how to generate revenue and what the unit economics look like for the product. I forecast all of that before we even started. The real thinking From here, it is whether you are confident in acquiring these customers, what the competition is going to do and if they can stop you; to how much time you have got to really make it fly and the key elements of what you need to deliver on so that they can't copy you. Read more: 'I returned to my old office to sell ties after being made redundant' 'In our workplace, we look for passionate, slightly unhinged mountain climbers' Britain's 'king of billboards' who sold his business for £1bn
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Yahoo
ECB Won't Flinch Yet in the Shadow of Trump's Trade War
(Bloomberg) -- The European Central Bank is likely to stare down the economic danger posed by US President Donald Trump's tariffs by opting to leave a potential cut in borrowing costs for another day. The Dutch Intersection Is Coming to Save Your Life Why the Federal Reserve's Building Renovation Costs $2.5 Billion Milan Corruption Probe Casts Shadow Over Property Boom Mumbai Facelift Is Inspired by 200-Year-Old New York Blueprint How San Jose's Mayor Is Working to Build an AI Capital In their final decision before a seven-week summer break, policymakers on Thursday will probably keep the interest rate unchanged at 2%, pushing off a response to Trump's threatened tariffs of 30% until they materialize and their impact can be better assessed. With many officials likely to use the interlude for a long holiday, the temptation to restate that inflation is at target, and to postpone worrying about the economic outlook until new quarterly forecasts are compiled for the Sept. 10-11 meeting, may seem appropriate. What policymakers do know, however, is that trouble is lurking. Aside from concerns about tariffs, the euro has strengthened, damping the outlook for prices and threatening to further squeeze exporters. Meanwhile, another political crisis in France may be brewing over its bloated public finances. Given that backdrop, the ECB Governing Council could acknowledge among themselves that the chance of another rate cut in September is growing, even if they stick with their well-worn 'meeting-by-meeting' approach to decision making. In that vein, President Christine Lagarde, in her opening statement to reporters on Thursday, is likely to restate that risks to growth are 'tilted to the downside,' Morgan Stanley economists wrote in a preview titled 'Ready for the Beach.' What Bloomberg Economics Says: 'We expect the Governing Council's language after the July 24 meeting to be similar to the wording in June, leaving open the possibility of additional cuts without committing to them.' —David Powell, senior euro-area economist. For full analysis, click here Economic reports in the coming week will inform their deliberations. They include the ECB's own bank lending survey, due on Tuesday, consumer confidence on Wednesday, and purchasing manager indexes from across the region and other major economies, set for release on Thursday, hours before the outcome of the ECB deliberations. Other key indicators such as Germany's closely-watched Ifo business confidence and Italian economic sentiment will follow on Friday. Elsewhere, inflation numbers from Japan to Brazil and testimony by the UK central bank chief are among the things in store for investors. Click here for what happened in the past week, and below is our wrap of what's coming up in the global economy. US and Canada The US economic data calendar is relatively light and highlighted by a pair of housing market reports. On Wednesday, June data from the National Association of Realtors are projected to show a third month of scant change in sales of previously owned homes. Contract closings have been hovering near an annualized rate of 4 million, just above last year's level that was the weakest since 2010. Meanwhile, economists expect a government report on Thursday to show new-home sales recovered a bit in June after posting the biggest monthly decline since 2022. The pace of contract signings on new houses has largely trended sideways for the better part of two years. The housing market has struggled to gain traction as elevated mortgage interest rates and affordability constraints keep many potential buyers sidelined. Other reports include Friday's release of June durable goods orders, preceded by S&P Global's July manufacturing and services surveys on Thursday. Fed policymakers are in a blackout period ahead of their July 29-30 meeting, although Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday gives welcoming remarks at a conference focused on capital frameworks for large banks. For more, read Bloomberg Economics' full Week Ahead for the US Further north, the Bank of Canada's business and consumer surveys for the second quarter will offer fresh insight into inflation expectations and investment plans. Retail data for May and a flash estimate for June are likely to show slumping sales as consumers pull back after a tariff-driven rush to buy cars earlier in the year. Two fiscal monitors from the federal government may contain more details about retaliatory tariff revenues collected to date. Asia Asia's data docket offers a broad cross-section of economic signals, from trade in South Korea to inflation indicators in Japan, Singapore and New Zealand. The figures will help clarify how the region's economies are responding to trade-related uncertainties. South Korea opens the week on Monday with 20-day trade data, an early indicator for July exports. Next follows consumer confidence on Wednesday and retail sales during the week, offering a read on household conditions after the Bank of Korea held rates steady this month. Also on Monday, China will release loan prime rates, which are expected to be kept steady for a second month in July, taking a cue from the People's Bank of China. Australia takes the spotlight on Tuesday with minutes from the Reserve Bank's July policy meeting, at which it shocked investors by keeping rates on hold at 3.85%. The minutes may offer a clearer sense of how close policymakers are to resuming their easing cycle. RBA Governor Michele Bullock is gives a speech on Thursday. On Tuesday, Taiwan is set to publish export orders for June, along with employment data. India's July PMIs, due Thursday, will indicate the resilience of both manufacturing and services activity. Japan closes out the week on Friday with a full slate of data, including Tokyo CPI, department store sales and factory activity. The inflation reading will offer an early steer on national price trends, while the other releases will help assess how well domestic demand and production are holding up. New Zealand reports second-quarter inflation on Monday, while Singapore publishes its price gauges on Wednesday and industrial production data on Friday. Thailand has car sales and customs trade balance figures during the week. For more, read Bloomberg Economics' full Week Ahead for Asia Europe, Middle East, Africa The UK will release public finance data on Tuesday at a time when its economic woes and fiscal position are very much in focus. With unemployment at a four-year high and growth faltering, PMI numbers on Thursday and retail sales on Friday may also draw attention. Britain's exposure to market stress may be a topic when Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey and colleagues testify on financial stability to lawmakers on Tuesday. Their report on the matter earlier this month highlighted how UK bonds risk being hit by a wave of forced selling by highly leveraged hedge funds. Consumer-price numbers are among the highlights elsewhere. Data on Wednesday from South Africa will likely show inflation quickened to 3.1% in June from 2.8%, due to higher meat prices. Iceland's equivalent numbers are published the following day. For more, read Bloomberg Economics' full Week Ahead for EMEA Aside from the ECB, other rate decisions are scheduled across the wider region: Nigerian policymakers will probably leave their key rate unchanged at 27.5% for a third straight meeting on Tuesday, as inflation at 22.2% remains elevated and both core and food price growth have started accelerating again. Hungary's central bank is expected to keep borrowing costs on hold for a 10th consecutive month the same day, despite a sluggish economy, after inflation accelerated in June. The Ukrainian central bank is set to decide on policy two days later. Officials in Kyiv have kept the main rate at 15.5% since a hike in March. Turkish policymakers are expected to resume cutting borrowing costs on Thursday after reversing course in the face of political turbulence in March. The central bank is forecast to cut the key rate to 43.5% from 46%. The Bank of Russia has indicated it's likely to lower borrowing costs when policymakers meet on Friday, possibly by more than the 100 basis points reduction it announced in June that brought the key rate to 20% from a record high 21%. Latin America Argentina on Monday posts May GDP-proxy data. Economic activity in April jumped 1.9% from March and 7.7% a year earlier as President Javier Milei loosened some currency controls, part of a $20 billion agreement with the International Monetary Fund. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg last month marked up their year-on-year forecasts for Argentina's second- and third-quarter output, to 8% and 4.2% respectively. Mexico, Latin America's No. 2 economy, takes center stage at mid-week, offering up economic activity data along with the mid-month consumer prices report. The May GDP-proxy print on Tuesday comes on the heels of April's better-than-expected readings, and after the economy flirted with a technical recession earlier in the year. A proliferation of headwinds — not least of which are US tariff and trade policies — has many analysts forecasting a shallow second-quarter slump, though. After a string of uncomfortably warm inflation readings, Mexico's June prints ticked down as supply shocks cooled. Against the backdrop of forecasts for modest disinflation, the central bank has signaled that it's likely to slow the pace of its easing cycle. Closing out the week, Brazil's mid-month inflation report will likely see a third straight lower reading under the weight of the highest borrowing costs in nearly two decades. Inflation expectations for 2025 have begun to come down, but remain above the central bank's target to the forecast horizon. For more, read Bloomberg Economics' full Week Ahead for Latin America --With assistance from Beril Akman, Mark Evans, Vince Golle, Tony Halpin, Erik Hertzberg, Robert Jameson, Swati Pandey and Monique Vanek. A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border How Starbucks' CEO Plans to Tame the Rush-Hour Free-for-All What the Tough Job Market for New College Grads Says About the Economy Godzilla Conquered Japan. Now Its Owner Plots a Global Takeover How Taylor Swift Turned a Glitter Freckle Maker Into a Sensation ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
