Yet another Euro summit provides no real solution July 1, 2012 WILL last week’s summit of EU leaders, the nineteenth since the start of the Eurozone crisis, be seen by future historians as the point at which the tide finally turned? This was certainly the tone of some of the initial media reactions, which judged that Angela Merkel’s resistance had finally been breached, and that progress [...]
The City has much to gain from China’s development as a financial centre July 1, 2012 THE relationship between the UK and China came into sharp focus over the past week, as Hong Kong celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of its return to Chinese sovereignty. In this time, China’s economic transformation – underlined by its ascent to become the world’s second largest economy – has been nothing short of miraculous. That much [...]
Are the government’s proposals for House of Lords reform a sensible move forward? July 1, 2012 YES Peter Facey The government’s House of Lords Reform Bill is very welcome. To have published a bill at all is a historic landmark. Despite Parliament committing itself to replacing the House of Lords with a democratic second chamber 101 years ago, this coalition is the first to have got even this far. We’re not [...]
RAPID responses July 1, 2012 No light touch [Re: From boom to bezzle: this banking scandal will run and run, Friday] The chief big lie in this whole saga is the idea that banks faced light touch regulation. The Financial Services and Markets Act, 2000, was never ever light touch. Wrong touch, yes. Mis-touch, certainly. And definitely overweening and prescriptive, [...]
Barclays’ reputation is severely damaged but it will not be alone June 28, 2012 THERE can be little that is more precious to a bank than a reputation for integrity. The revelation that Barclays has paid a £290m fine for “misconduct” with regard to the setting of benchmark interest rates affecting trillions of pounds of financial contracts is a big blow for the bank’s reputation. Cue politicians calling for [...]
Steve Jobs made the right call: Apple’s ingenious iPhone turns five today June 28, 2012 FIVE years ago, the makers of BlackBerry didn’t believe the iPhone was possible. According to a former employee, they held internal meetings on 10 January 2007, the day after the unveiling but six months before it went on sale on 29 June, arguing that Apple was fudging the truth: it was simply impossible for a [...]
Coalition policy is damaging longer term productivity June 28, 2012 BRITAIN’S businesses and working families are paying a heavy price for the government’s mistakes. Abandoning the last Labour government’s balanced plan for deficit reduction, and raising taxes and cutting spending too far and too fast, has choked off recovery and pushed the UK into recession. As the only G20 country other than Italy already in [...]
Is News Corporation’s decision to split itself into two separate companies a good move? June 28, 2012 YES Alex DeGroote News Corp’s plan to split its entertainment and publishing assets should help resolve the conglomerate discount which undermines its equity value. Over time, it will allow capital to be allocated more rationally across the businesses. We imagine growth-oriented investors will favour the much larger, higher margin entertainment business. The publishing entity is [...]
RAPID responses June 28, 2012 Victim of Libor? [Re: Libor manipulation scandal is a disastrous own goal for City, yesterday] Back in the 1990s, my business had a Libor-linked loan with Barclays Commercial. Every quarter, when we came to settle, it mysteriously jumped 0.125 per cent or 2.5 per cent. After the first few times this happened, I started to [...]
The UK’s consumer debt burden is stifling hope of economic recovery June 27, 2012 THE Eurozone crisis has grabbed all the headlines. Yet Britain’s economic problems are not exactly the same as those of the Eurozone. In Euroland, the crisis has centred on banking and sovereign debt. In Britain, we have already given our banks plenty of capital. Remember the part-nationalisation of RBS and Lloyds TSB? It was in [...]