Furthermore, Der Spiegel published an article questioning the legality of the ECB's OMT program, saying that concerns are "mounting" that the program finances governments and is therefore outside of the ECB's mandate. The EU's Liikanen says that the EU advisory group recommends the ringfencing of banks' trading operations from deposit-taking businesses. Liikanen also suggested that additional capital should be set aside for property lending and some trading activities.
In Spain, markets seemed to welcome the outcome of Rajoy's meeting with Spanish regional presidents yesterday. According to Macro Strategy Analyst J. Reid at Deutsche Bank, “As our European economists note, with the regions contributing to 62% of the overall decline in the general government deficit in 2013 and the regions' poor track record in complying with their fiscal targets, implementation risks are high.”






