Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, lashed out at speculators and called for curbs on the derivatives markets, which she said were being used to profit from the financial distress of Greece.
The German Chancellor said that Europe must ensure that speculators were prevented from damaging Greece or other countries and said that she would discuss regulation of the credit defaults swaps (CDS) market with the United States. “We must succeed at putting a stop to the speculator’s game with sovereign states,” Mrs Merkel said. The Chancellor was speaking after a meeting with George Papandreou, the Prime Minister of Greece.
The Chancellor said that there was no need for a bailout of Greece by fellow eurozone members and she rounded on speculators for betting against Greece. Hedge funds were excluded from participation in a €5 billion bond sale this week by the Greek Government.
“Credit-default swaps, where you insure your neighbour’s house just to destroy it and make money from it, that’s exactly what we have to curb,” she said, adding that the issue was a global one and that action needed to be taken with the US.
She said: “This is what the politicians have to fight for. It is what the Greek Prime Minister wants, it is the will of the German Chancellor.”
Doubts in the financial markets about Greece’s ability to finance its public sector pushed up the cost of finance for the Greek Government to extraordinary levels last month.
BaFin, the German markets regulator, said that it was investigating the role of hedge funds in using the CDS market to bet against sovereign bond issuers.
Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle7052224.ece
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AtW's comment:
The German Chancellor said that Europe must ensure that speculators were prevented from damaging Greece or other countries and said that she would discuss regulation of the credit defaults swaps (CDS) market with the United States. “We must succeed at putting a stop to the speculator’s game with sovereign states,” Mrs Merkel said. The Chancellor was speaking after a meeting with George Papandreou, the Prime Minister of Greece.
The Chancellor said that there was no need for a bailout of Greece by fellow eurozone members and she rounded on speculators for betting against Greece. Hedge funds were excluded from participation in a €5 billion bond sale this week by the Greek Government.
“Credit-default swaps, where you insure your neighbour’s house just to destroy it and make money from it, that’s exactly what we have to curb,” she said, adding that the issue was a global one and that action needed to be taken with the US.
She said: “This is what the politicians have to fight for. It is what the Greek Prime Minister wants, it is the will of the German Chancellor.”
Doubts in the financial markets about Greece’s ability to finance its public sector pushed up the cost of finance for the Greek Government to extraordinary levels last month.
BaFin, the German markets regulator, said that it was investigating the role of hedge funds in using the CDS market to bet against sovereign bond issuers.
Source: http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle7052224.ece
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AtW's comment:
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