FT – Rachel Sanderson – Crisis Of faith Over Vatican Cash Machines – 5 January 2013

(Financial Times) — A stand-off between two titans of finance, the Bank of Italy and the Vatican, has forced tourists to abandon their visits to the Sistine Chapel — unless they have cash in their pockets.

Italy’s central bank has blocked all electronic payments through cash machines and by credit cards in Vatican City following the world’s smallest state’s failure to fully comply with international anti-money laundering rules.

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Mish/ Mike Shedlock – German Central Bank Head Warns Merkel On Repeated Weakening Of Positions; Third Front Against Merkel – 6 July 2012

Chancellor Angela Merkel is now under pressure from a third front, this time, from Jens Weidmann, president of the Bundesbank (Germany’s Central Bank). The Financial Times reports Weidmann warns Merkel over weakening

Germany’s top central banker has criticised the decisions of last week’s summit to help debt-laden eurozone members, warning that the bloc was “constantly mutualising risks and weakening the agreed rules”.

Mish/ Mike Shedlock – Casino Bar Shall Remain Open : ECB “On Standby” Promising Liquidity For Greek Election Fallout; Bank Of England Launches Two New Stimulus Packages – 15 June 2012

The message of the day is “damn the consequences, the casino bar shall remain open”, whatever it takes, no matter the consequences to taxpayers who will be responsible for the bar tab.

Bank of England Launches Two New Stimulus Packages

The BBC reports Bank shares jump on new business support plans

Mish/ Mike Shedlock – “Terror-Mongering” In Greece About To Backfire? Will Greeks Vote For “Complete Idiots”? Four Possibilities – 5 June 2012

The Financial Times reports Greek right a hostage to its own failures.

On June 17, Stathis Potamitis, managing partner at an Athens law firm, plans to break a promise he has kept since his participation in a 1970s clandestine student group that opposed Greece’s military dictatorship. He will vote for the right.