Executive pay is broken: How to reform the system to reward success and restore public trust February 10, 2016 Once again, battle is about to begin over executive remuneration. As we enter the season when shareholders gear up to vote on this year’s results, the threat of acrimony looms, but also a sense of weariness that all sides are trapped in a system that does not really work. According to regular surveys by the [...]
HSBC: After nearly a year of mulling its domicile, would it matter if the bank moved its headquarters from London? February 10, 2016 Chris Beauchamp, senior market analyst at IG, says Yes. Fundamentally, HSBC’s residency in London makes sense. The bank may have ambitions in emerging markets, and may have ringfenced its UK operations, but to depart for Asia would seem like an odd move. It would separate the bank from its peers, who have realised that the geographical [...]
Bad EU regulations hold the City back: We need more influence over policy February 9, 2016 At the heart of David Cameron’s hard-fought EU renegotiation, there appear to be some misconceptions about how the City views its relationship with Europe. Although many institutions in the Square Mile have voiced support for the UK’s membership of the EU, there is also widespread concern about the City’s strained relationship with Brussels, whose policy-making on [...]
UK exports are struggling – but Britain can set a new course February 9, 2016 At the mouth of the River Orwell in Suffolk stands Landguard Fort, a waterfront defence originally constructed in the seventeenth century to guard the port of Harwich. Visiting with my grandfather as a child, I vividly remember watching container ships from all corners of the world chug up the river to Felixstowe and Harwich. Today, Felixstowe [...]
Is Goldman Sachs right that the risk of recession in developed economies remains low? February 9, 2016 Mike Jakeman, global analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, says Yes. A falling stock market, contracting industrial production and flat consumer confidence make it pretty clear that the US economy has slowed since mid-2015, when it was roaring along at 4 per cent. But one stumble doesn’t make a summer. Around 70 per cent of the [...]
The thinning line between public services and private firms: TaxPayers’s Alliance wants Freedom of Information laws to affect private companies February 8, 2016 Private companies have been providing goods and services to (and on behalf of) the state for as long as the state has existed. After all, the NHS doesn't make its own MRI machines any more than the Home Office manufactures its own police cars. True, there have been times in the not too distant past [...]
It’s Hillary v Rubio: The race for the White House has finally become clear February 8, 2016 Iowa, as ever, was full of surprises. On the surface, the most amazing thing about the state’s 2016 caucus was how easily conservative senator Ted Cruz beat his fellow Republicans, and what a nail-biter Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders engaged in. But beyond these surface atmospherics, Iowa did its traditional job: it winnowed out [...]
Year of the Monkey: We must be innovative and adaptable to strengthen China ties February 8, 2016 The Year of the Monkey starts today as we celebrate Chinese New Year. With London hosting the biggest celebrations outside of Asia, the zodiac animal has two particular attributes that I also think help define our modern City: our adaptability and innovativeness. The importance of China to both the City and the wider UK is a [...]
Farewell Tech City: Why the capital’s thriving technology sector is so fearful of Brexit February 8, 2016 London's tech sector has been one of the country’s biggest success stories since the financial crisis. It works really well in London, aided by a range of world-leading creative industries, from film-making to news, which are themselves increasingly like tech firms. And let’s face it, there’s a cultural vibrancy that makes the capital a brilliant [...]
As a poll shows a nine-point lead for Brexit, is the Leave camp heading for victory? February 8, 2016 Martin Durkin, a television director and producer who s currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter to make “Brexit: The Movie, says Yes. Our lazy, unprincipled politico-bureaucratic elite is about to get a bloody nose. British people will not be governed by people who they don’t know, haven’t elected and can’t remove from power. Nor can we stomach obeying laws [...]