New rules would be bad for London January 21, 2010 HOW predictable. No sooner was Barack Obama humiliated by the Massachusetts electorate earlier this week – his left-wing candidate lost Ted Kennedy’s ultra safe seat to a radical conservative – than he announces another war on Wall Street. It is easy to forget in Britain, where Obama remains extraordinarily popular, that his administration is no [...]
Tories give their full support to Obama’s plans January 21, 2010 THE Tories yesterday threw their weight behind Barack Obama’s plans to break up Wall Street institutions and hinted that a Conservative government could follow suit. “This is a welcome move by President Obama that accords very much with our thinking. I have said consistently that we should look at separating retail banking from activities like [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 21, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES MUSIC INDUSTRY CLAIMS 95 PER CENT OF DOWNLOADS ILLEGAL AS CD SALES FALL A quarter of all recorded music industry revenues come from digital channels but online file-sharing continues to undermine the global music industry, with sales of physical and digital music falling last year, according to trade body the International Federation of [...]
OBAMA’S PLAN | HOW IT COULD HIT THE CITY’S BIGGEST PLAYERS January 21, 2010 RBS Has a hedge fund and prop trading desk. As it is majority owned by the government, taxpayers will be the biggest losers if it is forced to close down profitable businesses. HSBC Expected to be one of the least affected banks. While it has a large US presence, its investment banking business is geographically [...]
Obama shouldn’t break up the banks January 21, 2010 BARACK Obama might be planning to limit the size of investment banks and the risks they can take on, but those who support a newer version of the legislation that emerged in the Great Depression – such as the now-defunct Glass Steagall Act – should take note: If the recent glut of US bank earnings [...]
Ad revenues help Google to buck slump January 21, 2010 Google yesterday said its revenues had increased by 17 per cent between October and 1 December, showing the internet search giant is weathering the advertising recession. “Given that the global economy is still in the early days of recovery, this was an extraordinary end to the year,” said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt. But shares [...]
AmEx and Capital One see profits lift as spending surges January 21, 2010 Two of the US’s largest credit companies yesterday reported rebounding profits, raising hopes the American consumer is spending again. American Express yesterday reported profits for the last quarter of 2009 had quadrupled thanks to increased consumer spending and reduced losses on defaults. The credit card lender and payment network beat forecasts by posting net income [...]
Banks consider legal challenge to government’s bonus supertax January 21, 2010 A GROUP of banks including Royal Bank of Scotland has hired City law firm Clifford Chance to explore a legal challenge to the government’s 50 per cent bonus windfall tax. The Global Financial Markets Association, which counts RBS, Goldman Sachs and Credit Suisse among its members, is examining the legal route as well as a [...]
LSE loses out as rivals steal market share January 21, 2010 TRADING on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) has plunged with new rivals like Chi-X Europe snapping at its heels, sending the company’s revenues down nine per cent to £154.9m. The LSE has seen its share of trading of FTSE 100 stocks drop to 64 per cent last month from 78 per cent a year earlier. [...]
Fresh cull at Lloyds hits 585 January 21, 2010 Lloyds Banking Group is to cut another 585 jobs by March next year as part of changes to its wholesale and retail divisions. The bank – which unions say cut more than 15,500 jobs in 2009 as it tried to reduce costs following its merger with HBOS in 2008 – yesterday said 455 jobs would [...]