Covid-19 vaccines have been rolled out for a year now. Despite official commitments to provide access to effective jabs to all countries, production constraints and national priorities have resulted in uneven distribution.

The idea that we are entering a phase of financial repression regularly returns to the fore as real interest rates are negative and nominal interest rates are very low.

The pandemic has highlighted Europe’s dependency on several critical goods, including pharmaceutical products and medical equipment.

As the European economy is recovering from the largest economic shock of modern history, we are revising our growth and inflation assumptions to the upside.

The disruption of global supply chains has been a wakeup call for the European Union. For years, the principle of an open and free Single Market has led to a massive transfer of industrial production and outsourcing mainly to Asia.

We thought the banking sector was forever changed by the Global Financial Crisis (GFC): e.g., lower leverage, better risk management, greater transparency, etc. Yet, the Greensill Capital bankruptcy, and the multibillions in losses plus dividend cuts, capital increases, and senior management layoffs at Credit Suisse -- following the Archegos debacle and the Wirecard accounting fraud -- bring back a bitter taste of past troubles.