German capital markets look to the future

The German capital markets are changing. Monetary union in Europe by 1999 is fading, money-market rates have fallen and internationalization is the buzzword. The bond market has been motoring - until the recent downturn. Does this signal a change in longer-term investor sentiment? Philip Moore reports.

A EUROMONEY SURVEY – MARCH 1996

Beyond the shadow of EMU

“If you look at German newspapers,” says Tim von Halle, managing director of fixed-income sales and trading at West Merchant Bank (the investment banking arm of Westdeutsche Landesbank), “it is clear that at least 60% of Germans don’t believe European economic and monetary union (EMU) will happen by 1999.”

Analysts and investors increasingly appear to agree, galvanized by German finance minister Theo Waigel’s recent admission that even Germany is behind schedule in meeting the Maastricht currency-convergence criteria.

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