When you pay for your cumparaturi with a plastic card, you perform a cashless transaction. This system has a long history with many chapters. Bartering was once a standard- method of payment used around the globe long before currency was introduced. A farmer would bring a chicken to town in exchange for warm clothes for his children for instance. In …

One of the first official visits paid by Hans Klemm, the newly appointed US-Ambassador to Romania, was to the Ford plant in Craiova. The US car manufacturer is considering a new investment in Romania that could considerably increase the current output. For US-Ambassador Klemm, the visit in Craiova has had a particular note – his father had been a process …

Who is the most influential when it comes to ‘money & power’ around the world? Goldman Sachs comes up quickly, others point at the Federal Reserve but the real king of global money-managment is rarely mentioned, because the name is pretty unfamiliar outside financial circles. Within 3 months of 1986, a 34 year old manager in the fixed income division …

After Lehman Brothers in the US, Northern Rock in the UK and the EuroZone debt crisis, the ‘deposit guarantee scheme’ (DGS) in the EU was improved to boost the saver’s confidence in the banking sector. What is the level of deposit protection in the EU? From the initial 20’000 EUR, the protection was first increased to 50’000 EUR in 2009 …

For many people in my generation between 40 and 50, the term ‘Less Than Zero’ stands not only for low temperatures, but for the culture of decadence of the wealthy youth in Los Angeles in the middle of the 80’s, as shown in the (depressing) movie with this title.    This is going to change –  and the term ‘Less Than …

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin are usually credited as authors of the US ‘Declaration of Independence’ in 1776 which announced that the 13 American colonies (at that time at war with Britain) regarded themselves as independent. The young United States then got their own constitution and Benjamin Franklin wrote about this in a letter: ‘Our new constitution is …

The other day, I met Lucia, an interior designer, for a tea in town. After we exchanged a few pleasantries, she came to the point: ‘I need a 10’000 EUR loan for personal reasons in six to twelve months. Do you have an advice?’ ‘Have you any other debt and how much can you afford to pay for the rata …

Owning a House? 96% of Romanians own their homes, while Austria’s and Germany’s rate ranks the lowest in the EU (see chart) only the swiss rent even more. Why is this figure so high in ‘poor’ countries and so low in ‘rich’ states? The basic need of humans for shelter  is the same all over the world, the differences in homeownership …

In Romania, between 2002 and 2007, the median price for an communist-era apartment rose by a factor of 10 (that’s plus 1000% !!) from 10’000 EUR to 100’000 EUR. For some modern apartments in central Bucharest, prices rose above levels of cities like Berlin or Paris. In 2007, I just arrived as a foreigner in this country. Thanks to the …

Euribor is the interest rate at which a large number of European banks do provide short term loans to each another. The Euribor (Euro Interbank Offered Rate) was first published on Dec 30, 1998 before the introduction of the EUR as a currency on Jan 1, 1999 (see chart below). Banks which borrow money from other banks can use these …