Clint Eastwood’s lesson on economic forecasters’ Michael Fish moment January 11, 2017 Economic forecasters are in the dock. Last week, none other than the chief economist of the Bank of England, Andy Haldane, was confessing the crimes of the profession. The failure to predict the financial crisis was, Haldane said, economic forecasting’s “Michael Fish” moment. Thirty years ago, the BBC weatherman predicted that the UK would avoid the [...]
Sir John Vickers slams quality of Bank of England stress tests January 10, 2017 The man who headed the UK's critical inquiry into safeguarding the banking sector following 2008's financial crisis has slammed the Bank of England's stress tests for falling short. Sir John Vickers, who led the Independent Commission on Banking, called the progress made to bolster the banks so far "really disappointing". "I think we need to be more rigorous, [...]
US to bring charges against three UK ex-traders in forex probe over roles in ‘The Cartel’ chatroom January 10, 2017 The US Department of Justice plans to charge three UK-based ex-traders later today as part of its forex investigation over their involvement in the so-called 'The Cartel' chat group. The trio of former traders concerned are Richard Usher, formerly from JP Morgan, Rohan Ramchandani, formerly from Citigroup, and Chris Ashton, formerly from Barclays. Meanwhile, Matt Gardiner, formerly from UBS, has been [...]
Douglas Flint warns more clarity on Brexit is needed to safeguard City jobs as HSBC mulls moving as many as 1,000 to Paris January 10, 2017 The group chairman of HSBC has today warned more clarity is needed on Brexit to prevent firms, including his own, collectively moving thousands of jobs out of London preemptively. In an almost three-hour grilling with the Treasury Select Committee, Douglas Flint cautioned the lack of coherent guidance on where the government intended to go with Brexit [...]
US fine will let RBS turn page on horror decade January 10, 2017 During the 2008-2009 banking crisis the UK government had to fork out a total of £115bn to rescue Lloyds Banking Group and RBS from imminent collapse, making the taxpayer a shareholder in both. Now a new milestone has been reached: the government is no longer the biggest stakeholder in Lloyds Banking Group, after it cut [...]
It’s official: The UK government is no longer the largest shareholder in Lloyds Bank January 9, 2017 The government is no longer the largest investor in Lloyds Bank, after it reduced its stake to below six per cent for the first time since it was bailed out in the financial crisis. The stake now comprises 5.95 per cent of the FTSE 100 bank. The sale means that over £18bn of taxpayer money [...]
How boutiques have snatched bankers and M&A business from the Wall Street giants January 9, 2017 With bonus season kicking off this week, one or two investment bankers at Wall Street heavyweights may well have cast an envious eye over the recent results of London boutique Robey Warshaw. The firm, which was founded in 2013 and has three former Wall Street bankers as its partners, reported profits of £36.6m for the year [...]
Libor trio to face confiscation orders next month, as hearing scheduled to begin in February January 8, 2017 Three ex-Barclays bankers who were found guilty last year of Libor-rigging offences now face being stripped of their property when they return to court again next month. When they were sentenced last July, it was also announced that Jonathan Mathew, Jay Merchant and Alex Pabon would face a confiscation hearing at a later date. City A.M. [...]
Lloyds share sell off set to gain pace tomorrow January 8, 2017 The government is set to ditch another £500m worth of its stake in Lloyds, with the next sale of its shares expected to be announced as early as tomorrow. In one of his earliest announcements as chancellor, Philip Hammond revealed last October that the government was now prepared to sell its remaining stake in the lender. [...]
Upbeat banking earnings bonanza predicted this week, as analysts forecast revenue bump for JP Morgan January 8, 2017 All eyes will be on Wall Street later this week, as the US' banking behemoths get set to reveal their fourth quarter, and latest full-year, results. JP Morgan, Wells Fargo and Bank of America are scheduled to be the first out of the gate, as the trio are due to deliver their results on Friday 13 [...]