Banks’ Brexit plans still need work if they are going to be ready for the UK leaving the EU, according to a powerful member of the ECB. Sabine Lautenschlaeger, vice-chair of the board of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, said issues remain in preparations for both UK-based banks trying to access the EU and EU-based banks wanting to service clients in the UK. “My message to all affected banks is this: don’t procrastinate,” she said, speaking at a banking forum in Frankfurt. “No one will wait for you. When Brexit happens you will either be prepared, or not. I advise you to be prepared.” Source City AM
It is less than two months since U.S. President Donald Trump travelled to Texas to declare that the U.S. energy industry, laid low by this year’s oil price crash, was back on its feet. “We’re OK now,” the president told the assembled crowd.
But bankruptcy numbers released this week tell a different story. Another 16 upstream U.S. oil and gas companies — producers and service providers — hit the wall in August, the same number as in July, according to law firm Haynes and Boone. Source Financial Post
The Bank of Italy said Italy’s public debt hit a new high of 2,560.5 billion euros in July, up 29.9 billion with respect to June. Source Ansa
Austria has said it still supports the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, despite growing reservations about the project in parts of Europe following the poisoning of Russian opposition figure Aleksei Navalny. Source Radio Free Europe
