Investors are turning to ETFs as uncertain times continue June 17, 2009 WHEN American private equity firm Blackrock recently acquired Barclays Global Investors in a deal worth $13.5bn it was seen as a smart move by some industry analysts, largely because of BGI’s involvement in the exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) industry through its £375bn iShares business. ETFs have been big in the US for many years, and the financial [...]
GOLD A GOOD BET IN ALL CONDITIONS June 17, 2009 NICHOLAS BROOKSHEAD OF RESEARCH AND INVESTMENT STRATEGY, ETF SECURITIES SINCE the start of the year, the economic outlook has changed significantly and global depression has been averted. However, we are still in a period of deflation, as RPI figures out earlier this week showed. In May, inflation fell yet again in the UK, from -1.1 [...]
Putting the net into networking June 17, 2009 IN business, your network is your career’s lifeblood. Contacts are not there to sit unused in the Rolodex, but to be exploited for ideas, deals, jobs and opportunities. After all, only a fraction of executive appointments are made as a result of applications to advertised positions – most are down to knowing the right people. [...]
CAREERS CLINIC June 17, 2009 TONI EASTWOODDEVELOPMENT MANAGER, EVERYWOMAN My boss has formed a laddish rapport with the men on our team, and they go out drinking a lot. As a woman, I feel excluded, and I think I’m being overlooked for important projects. Some of the women on the team are happy to play up to the macho atmosphere, [...]
Recovery hopes are pushing smart traders towards metals contracts June 17, 2009 BELOW me, dozens of men in dark suits are standing in a ring, yelling at each other and making special hand signals. Around the ring clerks are sitting, often with a telephone held to each ear and giving a running commentary down the line on the events unfolding in front of them. In the cacophony [...]
The post-trade space is facing a revolution following Mifid June 17, 2009 IN THE fast and exciting world of trading it is all too easy to overlook the importance of the necessary but rather administrative post-trade activities, of which clearing and settlement are the most important. But these play a vital role in the functioning of the European securities markets. And the European clearing and settlement space [...]
BANKING WOE PUTS EURO ON THE BACK FOOT June 17, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COM AFTER months of heavy handed fiscal and monetary stimulus, the fact that central bankers and finance ministers are turning their attention to exit policies offers some reassurance that conditions must be returning to normal. This is not, however, a time for complacency. Over the past couple of months, investors’ fears have [...]
SUSTAINABLE BANKING IS WAY FORWARD June 17, 2009 MOORAD CHOUDRYHEAD OF TREASURY, EUROPE ARAB BANK THE financial crash of 2007-2008 was caused by the interaction of several different factors, some of which had been building for years. Since then markets have entered a period of restructuring that reflects the realities of the crash: key to this is an awareness that much of the [...]
CLEARING AND SETTLEMENT REGULATORY DEVELOPMENTS June 17, 2009 Yesterday, President Obama announced a plan to overhaul US financial regulation in response to a banking and capital markets crisis. As part of the proposal, oversight of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives would be imposed, and there would be harmonisation of futures and securities regulation. New payment and settlement system safeguards would be created. The financial crisis [...]
WHY LIBEL TOURISM IS A BIG WORRY June 16, 2009 MAX COLEMEDIA LAWYER, MISHCON DE REYA SOLICITORS THE practice of libel shopping has been coming under scrutiny recently. Libel tourism is a type of forum shopping, the practice of finding the foreign jurisdiction which is most friendly to the claim, and the courts in this country are an appealing destination if you are a foreigner [...]