Business briefs
CANADA
Reuters
Carney sees hope for Europe
DAVOS - The risk of a Lehman-style banking failure in Europe has been ``dramatically reduced'' by recent policy steps, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney said on Wednesday, but fell short of saying he was optimistic a worst-case scenario had been averted.
Decisive action by the European Central Bank to provide liquidity to the financial system has eased market pressure on Spain and Italy and boosted demand for their bonds, said Carney, who became head of the G20's Financial Stability Board (FSB) in November.
``It is absolutely essential that the financial system, the banking system specifically in Europe, is able to finance itself on a reasonable basis, that we're not worried about a Lehman event in Europe,'' Carney told Reuters TV in Davos.
``Our view is that given the measures that the ECB has taken and the heightened focus of the banking regulator in Europe on the health of these institutions that that tail risk has been dramatically reduced. That's incredibly important,'' he said.
Advocates of utilities deregulation had always intended the process to lead to price cuts, just as it had in the phone and airline industries. Nothing of the sort happened. Deregulation failed partly because the legislation was framed so that no entity