Podcasts from Share Radio Breakfast related to Economics - Eurozone

The €29bn euro merger of the London Stock Exchange and Deutsche Boerse could collapse after the LSE said the deal was unlikely to be approved by the European Commission. The commission had ordered the LSE to sell its 60% stake in MTS, a fixed-income trading platform, which the stock exchange described as "disproportionate". A spokesperson for Theresa May said the merger was a "commercial matter." Share Radio's Nigel Cassidy was joined by Mike van Dulken, Head of Research of Accendo Markets.

A survey by the British Chambers of Commerce of 1500 business people has highlighted an interesting reaction to the collapse in the value of the pound since last June's referendum. Over a third of UK firms are planning to invest more in selling abroad over the next five years, despite uncertainties over Brexit. To discuss this further, Anastassia Beliakova, International Affairs Officer at the BCC, joined Share Radio Breakfast.

Share Radio's Steve Clarke brings us the latest live from Davos ahead of the last day of the World Economic Forum. What was the reaction to Theresa May's speech from Thursday and how did Chancellor Philip Hammond follow up on the Prime Minister’s talk?

A 20 billion euro bailout for the world’s oldest bank, Italy's Monte dei Paschi di Siena, now looks inevitable. Monte has seemingly failed to pull off a last-ditch rescue plan, proving unable to find an anchor commercial investor for an offer of new shares. Bankers said a private sector deal to swop debt for shares would only have raised €1.7 billion, far short of the overall amount needed. The Italian Senate's approval followed an announcement by the troubled bank that it expects to burn through €11 billion in just four months, a sum it was thought would last 11 months. Share Radio's Matt Cox has been getting the lowdown on Monte's plight from industry specialist Philip Alexander, Regulation Editor at Risk.net.

Ryan Heath, Senior EU Correspondent and Associate Editor at POLITICO Europe, joined Share Radio Breakfast to talk politics. The Daily Telegraph leads with news the UK could face a bill of £50 billion to leave the EU. Meanwhile the Financial Times says Brussels is preparing rule changes which would deprive London of one of its flagship financial businesses.

A new EU Banking proposal, Article 21b, which requires non-EU banks to set up holding companies for their EU operations hasn't gone down too well, especially with US banking institutions. But as arguments on the new proposal have yet to spill over into the public eye, Share Radio's Matt Cox spoke to Francesco Guerrera, Associate Editor and Chief Financial Correspondent at POLITICO, to see what all the quiet complaints were about.

Italy's largest bank, UniCredit, has announced plans to cut 14,000 jobs by 2019. It may also say it will raise €13 billion euros in the country's biggest share issue, to clean up its balance sheet and boost longer-term profitability. The move comes at a troubled time for Italian banks and the economy, with the country's third-largest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, at risk of failure. Bruce Packard is a Senior Analyst at bank rating and advisory organisation, Lafferty Group, and he joined Share Radio Breakfast to discuss.

Barclays has agreed to sell its French retail banking operations to European private equity firm, AnaCap Financial Partners. This follows the UK bank’s decision to sell its credit arms in Spain and Portugal. The bank says it's going to focus on its core markets in the UK and US. So is this the Barclays equivalent of Brexit? Share Radio’s Matt Cox spoke to Jeremy Cook, Chief Economist from World First, to find out more about the decision and what it will mean.

Helen Thomas, Managing Director of BlondeMoney, joined Share Radio Breakfast for the first instalment of her new slot each Friday. She's a blogger, worked in the city for George Osborne, and loves policy, politics and finance. This week, Helen discusses Mario Draghi and the ECB meeting on Thursday. The ECB president warned of a year of 'big uncertainty' for the Eurozone as voters go to the polls in Germany, France and the Netherlands.

The European Union has started legal action against seven nations, including the UK and Germany, for failing to take action against Volkswagen for cheating emission tests. The German car giant has had huge fines in the US over its use of "defeat devices" used to hide true levels of emissions. More than one million cars in the UK are involved, and Paul Simpson, CEO OF CDP, who run global disclosure systems for investors and companies to manage their environmental impacts, joined Share Radio to bring the latest.