dutch outsmarted the belgians(no surprise)
Heinrich
it seems the Belgians have something to complain about.
We bought the "healthy parts" of Fortis, crowed Dutch finance minister
Wouter Bos. Now the Belgians are angry because the implication is that they
have been left with the dud operations.
On Sunday evening Flemish television showed a repeat of Dutch prime minister
Jan Peter Balkenende announcing last week's purchase of the activities of
Fortis Bank Nederland and ABN Amro for 16.8 billion euros, this time with
the triumphant tones of the Dutch national anthem in the background.
The Belgians look at the nationalisation of Fortis in football terms: the
successful Dutch team is celebrating and the Red Devils (the Belgian
national team's nickname) have failed once again. But, say the Belgians, the
Dutch haven't played fair.
Purely political game
The Belgian business paper De Tijd quotes an insider who had this to say
about the Fortis deal: "It was a purely political game with national pride
taking precedence over the interests of all concerned. The Dutch attitude
bordered on the irresponsible."
The Belgians have reason to be piqued. When Belgian prime minister Yves
Leterme announced the deal on Friday he spoke of a "win-win situation" for
both Belgium and the Netherlands. The Belgians didn't have a bad word to say
about the Dutch.
An hour later, however, Bos gave his account of the events in The Hague. The
Netherlands he said, putting his foot squarely in it, now has a robust
company far removed from any danger of infection from the unhealthy sections
of Fortis Belgium. He was referring to the portfolio containing the high
risk credit default swaps which insure investors against bad debts.
Leterme hits back
Leterme hit back immediately. "We're well rid of the Dutch", he said on
Flemish television the same night. "Did you know the Belgian central bank
has had to cough up 45 billion euros to shore up the Dutch activities [of
Fortis]? Balkenende was right when he said we had problems, but the Dutch
had their fair share too."
Fortis was not supposed to have any equity problems, but this weekend the
Belgian government rushed back to the negotiating table. What had happened?
According to a Dutch ministry of finance spokesman, the Dutch central bank
detected huge transfers of money on Tuesday which prompted a phone call to
Bos. It could only mean an acute liquidity problem at Fortis.
Where did all these transfers come from? Analysts at Dutch bank ING
calculated that all the European banks put together had around 311 billion
euros worth of maturing debt that needed to be refinanced throughout this
year . The third quarter showed a peak of 94 billion euros in debt maturing
with Fortis accounting for 12.6 billion euros, the highest figure of all the
financial institutions in the euro zone.
Lack of trust
Could this have been the reason? Lack of trust among banks makes it very
difficult to refinance short and longer term debts. A contributing factor
was almost certainly the confusion about the position of Fortis on the stock
exchange. Fortis is listed on the Amsterdam stock exchange but what do its
shares represent now that is owned by the Dutch government?
Investors on the Belgian stock market were equally baffled. Technically, the
value of Fortis shares had not been diluted by the initial rescue operation
because the Belgian government injected capital rather than buying stocks.
But the same does not hold true for profit, as the Belgian government is
entitled to 49 percent of all profits from the banking arm of Fortis in
Belgium.
Over the past few days the Belgian government must have realised that the
situation could not go on. This resulted in Sunday's deal in which French
bank BNP Paribas acquired a 75 percent stake in the Belgian activities of
Fortis, with the Belgian state taking the remaining 25 percent.
Getting its own back
The history behind the Dutch-Belgian tit-for-tat over Fortis goes back a
good while. Ten years ago, Dutch bank ABN Amro tried to take over the
Belgium's Generale Bank, founded by Belgium's prestigious Generale
Maatschappij, an important player in the banking, steel and energy world.
The attempt caused an upheaval, even among the Belgian royal family. In the
end, it was Fortis which took over the Generale Bank.
When Fortis bought part of ABN Amro last year the Belgians sniggered: the
shoe was on the other foot now. The Netherlands' banking flagship was being
sold off ignominiously. This weekend, the Dutch government got a little bit
of its own back.
Al Nakba
the belgians simply waffled on these matters..
Heinrich
"Al Nakba" <william...@bluebottle.com> schreef in bericht
news:9c6c9aa1-3c40-4a3c...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
but to be nivce to them i cvan say that they still have their beer breweries
!!!!!
Al Nakba
> "Al Nakba" <williamhubb...@bluebottle.com> schreef in berichtnews:9c6c9aa1-3c40-4a3c...@b38g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
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> - Show quoted text -
Hooray beer!
Heinrich
Hooray beer!
It's that sad time of year again -- the Munich Oktoberfest is over. But the
annual post-Oktoberfest statistics on beer and oxen consumption make for
entertaining reading, as does the list of lost items which for the first
time since records began does not include a set of false teeth.
Statistics needn't be boring. In fact they're downright entertaining in the
case of the Oktoberfest. Each year after the two-week celebration of beer
and Lederhosen ends, the city of Munich provides figures that give an
insight into the scale and intensity of the world's biggest beer festival.
Beer consumption, as always, is the key figure. It declined by 300,000
litres to 6.6 million as a result of cold and rainy weather this year. The
number of visitors fell by 200,000 to 6 million.
In fact the weather was so cold that stalls sold 2,000 liters of mulled wine
normally reserved for the Christmas market season to men and women freezing
in their Lederhosen and Dirndls.
The number of oxen devoured remained stable at 104 and the security guards
in the 14 giant beer tents confiscated a total of 200,000 empty Mass liter
glasses that visitors had tried to smuggle out of the tents as mementoes.
Anyone who has visited the Oktoberfest and seen hundreds of revellers
dancing on the wooden tables, holding up their beer glasses and chanting
along to DJ Ötzi's cover version of "Hey! Baby" knows how merry the
atmosphere can get.
For those who haven't, a look at the lost and found register evokes the
raucous celebrations.
Members of staff found 680 identity cards and passports, 410 wallets, 360
keys, 265 spectacles, 280 mobile phones and 80 cameras, one set of diving
goggles, one set of angel's wings, a superman costume and four wedding
rings.
A long-haired Dachshund was also found roaming the festival ground, but was
later reclaimed by its owner.
"For the first time, no dentures were found," the Munich city press
department said with a mixture of surprise and disappointment. "Is this a
sign of demographic change, good dental hygiene or a higher rate of tooth
implants
Al Nakba
> "Al Nakba" <williamhubb...@bluebottle.com> schreef in berichtnews:86eb4444-2d19-4972...@l33g2000pri.googlegroups.com...
>
> - Show quoted text -
Years ago, a friend whose grandmother was in munich was still woking
carrying beer at the Oktoberfest. She was 72, and had no plans to
retire.. In her younger days ashe may have danced on the tables. As i
recall, her grandaughter was quiet lively!