Cable would carve up rescued lenders July 20, 2009 AS Tory shadow chancellor George Osborne was laying out his blueprint for regulatory reform, Liberal Democrat counterpart Vince Cable was proposing his own solutions to the financial crisis, including the break-up of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group. Speaking at the London Stock Exchange, Cable said: “The Lloyds-HBOS merger should be unscrambled … [...]
ARE YOU SATISFIED WITH CONSERVATIVE PROPOSALS ON REGULATION? July 20, 2009 ANGELA KNIGHT CHIEF EXECUTIVE, BBAWe’re pleased to see the highlighting of the European dimension within these proposals. There has to be a higher degree of engagement at a senior level with European authorities. We want to see a proportionate and stable regulatory framework that ensuresthe industry can compete.RICHARD LAMBERT DIRECTOR GENERAL, CBIThis is a very [...]
THE FSA’S SHORT HISTORY July 20, 2009 The Financial Services Authority was born when former chancellor Gordon Brown overhauled the financial regulatory system following Labour’s landslide election victory in 1997. Brown’s revamp saw responsibility for banking supervision transferred to the FSA from the Bank of England, which had historically performed that function. The City watchdog later took on responsibility for regulating mortgages, [...]
CIT gets stay of execution July 20, 2009 THE board of stricken US lender CIT yesterday agreed a $3bn (£1.82bn) rescue loan from key bondholders, saving it from the jaws of bankruptcy. With the US government making it clear that CIT is not systemically important enough to warrant a bailout, the financing package is aimed at buying the bank time to restructure its [...]
Treasury accounts held back as auditor refuses to sign off July 20, 2009 THE National Audit Office (NAO) has refused to sign off the accounts of five public bodies – including the Treasury – it was revealed yesterday. It raised questions over the Treasury’s accounts because the department failed to to agree its toxic assets insurance scheme with parliament. And it emerged that the NAO had “qualified” the [...]
INM extends standstill on debt for a third time as talks continue July 20, 2009 INDEPENDENT News & Media (INM) is set to announce a third standstill agreement with its creditors as talks continue regarding the debt-laden firm’s financial restructuring. INM, which owns The Independent newspaper, is still locked in talks with banks and investors over the refinancing of a €200m (£178m) bond. Sources close to the company said “constructive [...]
THE RED BARON July 20, 2009 ENTREPRENEUR Sir Alan Sugar yesterday took his seat in the House of Lords as Baron Sugar of Clapton. The businessman and star of BBC TV series The Apprentice was enobled by Gordon Brown last month and asked to fill an advisory post as enterprise tsar. Lord Sugar’s official role is to help guide firms through [...]
Home loans hit six-month high in June July 20, 2009 GROSS mortgage lending hit a six-month high in June according to data released yesterday by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). Figures from the CML showed that gross mortgage lending rose 17 per cent in June to £12.3bn from £10.5bn in May, but was still 48.4 per cent lower than in June 2008. Gross lending [...]
Iceland revives broken banking system July 20, 2009 ICELAND is to rebuild its ravaged banking system with a 270bn krona (£1.29bn) capital injection into three new lenders created out of the ashes of the island nation’s former largest lenders. The three new banks, Islandsbanki, New Kaupthing and New Landsbanki, replace Glitnir, Landsbanki and Kaupthing, all of which collapsed last year as the banking [...]
Money supply at its weakest in four years July 20, 2009 BRITAIN’S broad money supply (M4) contracted in June by 0.2 per cent, the weakest reading since June 2005, figures from the Bank of England showed yesterday, putting a question mark over the effectiveness of the Bank’s quantitative easing (QE). The data showed the supply of broad money fell by £3.2bn last month and the annual [...]