The currency blog

Another 6 months has flown past and it is time to choose the charities for the second half of 2011.

CSR contributions are made by the employees of Currencies Direct, and so it is only fair that the charities we support are chosen democratically by the employees! I asked for the names of any charities that are close to peoples heart and we had a great response meaning a voting sheet containing 34 different charities. As always there were a variety of different causes ranging from animal welfare, to sickness to overseas charities all of them worthy of a vote - but which were your favourite 9 charities?

Below I have put the winning charities, the amount of votes they received and the month in 2011 that we we will be raising funds for them!

July/August

Save The Children 95
London Irish Centre Charity 58
Providence Row Charity 69

September/October

Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) 137
Parkinsons 56
Dog’s Trust 51

November/December
NSPCC 80
Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research 88
Tickets for Troops 73

I hope your favourite charity made it to the list, mine did so thank you to everyone that voted for leukaemia & lymphoma research.

Sara

The weather has finally warmed up in the City and hopefully reading how much more we’ve raised for charity over the past 2 months will give you a warm feeling inside too! The London office has collected a very reasonable £351 which means that the co-operative wall total is now £9385. Well done everyone! We are edging closer to the magic 5 figures.

So how did each charity do?

Tommy’s £165.50
Salaam Balak Trust £90.60
National Animal Welfare £95.80

Tommy’s was clearly the favourite charity this time, but who will we be supporting over the next 6 months. An update from The Next Big Charity Vote to follow shortly.

As always, thank you for reading!

Sara

The market has made its move and has priced in a positive resolution for today’s crucial Greek vote on austerity due at 12:00 GMT. Risky assets and the euro have been subsequently bought back into and EUR/USD has pushed back up from 1.41 to 1.44 on the prospect of a yes vote. The market is clearly in a situation of buying the rumour and a sell of the fact could be on the cards – the yes vote is not a foregone conclusion as the socialist ruling party only have a tiny majority of six in 300 seat parliament. It is knife edge time for Greece and the Euro.

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On a beautiful calm sunny evening the last event of the British Chamber of Commerce in Andalucia took place in the stunning surroundings of the Guey Restaurant on June 16th.

Kindly sponsored and supported by Currencies Direct, the event was not just the chance to invite other organisations and Clubs to participate but also to present Sarah Rogers from ACASA with a cheque for the charity.

Jennie Thompson Vice President for the BCC Andalucia said” This event is a fun event and a chance to get out the Ascot hats or the Henley boaters before we close down for the summer. We thank Currencies Direct for sponsoring the event and we also appreciate Sarah being here to receive the cheque for funds raised during our Golf Event.”

The BCC supports not just business here in Spain but also charities and the Raffle which took place during the evening was in aid of L.I.V.E. a charity which supports local children’s causes.

“We are very grateful to the British Chamber of commerce in Andalucia for continuing to support us with their fundraising events” says Keith Spitalnick, Chairman of L.I.V.E and Regional Sales Manager for Currencies Direct. “The children we support have so very little of their own that when the ex pat community contributes something it sends a strong signal to these young boys and girls that despite the difficult financial times we find ourselves in, someone still cares about them”.

Guests were able to network whilst enjoying drinks and a beautiful array of canapés. The BCC events commence again in September with speakers , seminars and also the Christmas cocktail party all on the menu to benefit memebsr and business in Andalucia.

For more information on the Chamber and the benefits of membership please visit the website www.britishchamberspain.com

Currency markets traded quietly overnight and have continued the theme have into this morning as nervy traders and investors wait for the result of the Greek vote of the recently announced austerity measures. The new rounds of cuts were required by the IMF and EU to release another tranche of bailout funds, without which Greece will run out of money by mid-July. Pictures of protesting Hellenic republic workers dominate the news channels at the moment and the markets remain very nervous. President Sarkozy is reported to have reached a deal with French banks over the rolling of Greek debt that the banks hold. Reaching an agreement with the banks was seen as a key hurdle to overcome in keeping the Greek situation from falling off the edge of a cliff and the Euro is trading higher this morning on the news.

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Risk aversion is back on the menu with continued doubts over Greece and uncertainties about weaker economic data weigh heavily on market sentiment. A number of key events rather than headline data will be the main drivers this week. First on the agenda is the vote in the Greek parliament on the country’s budget reform plan, which if approved will pave the way for the way for a pay-out of EUR 12 billion from the EU/IMF and a complete new bailout agreement. Read the rest of this entry »