CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU WORRIED ABOUT THE CONSEQUENCES OF A COUNTRY SUCH AS IRELAND OR SPAIN DEFAULTING?
MARK GROVES | EIB
“Not directly in terms of my work however a major country defaulting would affect everyone through the direct country risk and the risk from the exposure our clients have. The knock-on effects on the financial services industry as a whole would most certainly be a cause for concern.”
YASMINE MOEZINIA | NOMURA
“I am not personally worried by this. Recently the UK economy has been going from strength to strength. Business and consumer confidence is improving, and house prices are looking extremely resilient and that’s what concerns me most.”
ALEX BALFOUR | SMITH & WILLIAMSON
“I would regard a Spanish sovereign default as much more serious than an Irish sovereign default, within the Eurozone. However, a Spanish default is less likely than an Irish, given the relative scale of the banking busts in the two economies, relative to GDP.”