The rich are getting richer

SPAIN’S rich are now 8.4 per cent richer than a year ago. The 200 richest people in Spain have €145 billion between them according to El Mundo special feature ‘Spain’s Greatest Fortunes’. In just 12 months, the stock exchange assets of Inditex owner Amancio Ortega, 76, have increased by 64 per...

The ghastly price of being a guest makes a wedding just too costly

  WHEN it comes to a wedding I really want to say ‘I do’ but sometimes I just can’t. I mean I want to get dressed up in a beautiful dress.  I want to walk up the aisle and take my place. I want to enjoy the party with all my friends, but the thing is – with finances as they are at the moment...

How Equity Release Plans Work The equity release market has increased in recent years with more and more people deciding to make the most of the increase in the value held within their homes without needing to move somewhere cheaper and smaller. Of course, by releasing some of the equity in their property,...

A sign of the times

Spanish banks rarely seem to be out of the headlines these days, with the most recently being Bankia which requires billions of euros from the government. This photograph shows a notice stuck on the door of a savings bank in Mallorca which reads ‘No Cash No ATM’. Some might say it serves as a perfect...

Sex does count in pay fight

MEN continue to earn more money than women. Spain is among several EU countries which have started to address the situation by adopting legislation that introduces gender quotas for company boards. On average in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries women earn 16 per cent...

British holidaymakers run out of cash 5 days into their holiday

BRITISH holidaymakers abroad blow most of the £622 (€770) they have spent five months saving two days before they are due to fly home, a Teletext Holidays study shows. A third racks up a further £219 (€271) on the credit cards as they struggle to afford the final two days. When it comes to...

Spain’s measures to build credibility

SPAIN’S Council of Ministers has adopted two measures to “improve credibility and build confidence in the Spanish financial system, promote recovery of credit and drive the sale of property at reasonable prices”, according to the government. Two independent assessor entities will be appointed to carry...

No more Spanish hams to Argentina

ARGENTINA will stop importing cured ham from Spain in order to boost home produce. The Interior Business Secretary, Guillermo Moreno, said ham from Italy and Brazil would no longer be imported either. Last year, Argentina bought 274 tonnes of ham worth €1.7 million from Spain.   Tweet

Size matters for Spanish banks

MAKING Spanish banks smaller, not bigger, can help meet recapitalisation demands and a property holdings cleanup. This is the opinion of Rodrigo Rato, Bankia president plus former Economy minister and managing director of the International Monetary Fund. Bankia will continue to go it alone, Rato declared...

Bank land lands them with problems

LAND is not selling and transactions are unlikely to pick up for two years at least. This was a problem, according to Economy minister Luis de Guindos.   And until the stockpile of unsold homes could be shifted, there would be no “significant” increase in the number of land deals, he predicted. The...