European banking union will be no friend of vibrant financial services December 12, 2012 WOLFGANG Schäuble, the German finance minister, recently said that “we can only achieve political union if we have a crisis”. His idea is to exploit the Eurozone’s sovereign debt problems to confer additional powers on the EU. And his most recent project is the “single supervisory mechanism” – otherwise known as banking union. EU finance [...]
Bashing City bankers has unintended consequences for middle England December 12, 2012 I HOPE, dear CityA.M. reader, that you occasionally manage to unchain yourself from your desk, rip yourself away from the trading floor, and escape from the shadows of the towers of Canary Wharf and the Square Mile. Because – and I hope this won’t come as a total shock to you – there is a [...]
New tax avoidance rule is a recipe for chaos and disorder December 12, 2012 THIS week’s draft Finance Bill gave a number of revealing insights into the mind of the chancellor and the direction the 2013 Budget will likely take. Among its contents was a long-overdue update on the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) – the government’s much-hyped silver bullet for the scourge of tax avoidance. Over the past year, [...]
Should North Korea’s surprise rocket launch raise concerns over security in the region? December 12, 2012 YES Raheem Kassam There is no doubt that North Korea’s test will terrify the people of South Korea as well as other nations in the region. The West will not only be concerned by the threats and strains created by an emboldened North Korea, but also by the reaction of its partners. Over the past [...]
Rapid responses December 12, 2012 Urban renewal [Re: Decline in homeownership is the result of bonkers red tape, yesterday] Unfortunately, the housing shortage is London is not just an issue of “idiotic planning rules” but a fundamental unwillingness to allow the city to expand physically. The debate has artificially divided into supporters of the green belt and those who want [...]
Old age Britain: An opportunity for firms to profit from demographics December 11, 2012 LONDON is booming. Figures from the 2011 census show the city has witnessed unprecedented demographic change since 2001. Over the last 10 years, its population increased by 11.6 per cent – from 7.3m to 8.2m in 2011. A full 10 of the 20 fastest growing local authorities in England and Wales are located in the [...]
Why breaking the banking consensus wouldn’t be the end of the world December 11, 2012 FORECASTS of the end of the world have an even worse track record than economic predictions. Followers of the Mayan calendar believe it will all come to an end next week. But we have been here before. In 1956, an American group led by a suburban housewife believed a catastrophic flood would destroy the world [...]
HSBC’s fine stands as the first step on a lengthy journey December 11, 2012 HSBC is to pay a settlement of around $1.9bn (£1.2bn) under the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement reached with the US Department of Justice. It is the largest settlement of its kind to date, dwarfing fines paid by financial institutions like Standard Chartered and Barclays. But why is it so big? Firstly, it reflects [...]
Is the historic $1.9bn settlement between HSBC and US regulators a reasonable result? December 11, 2012 YES Roger Francis HSBC said today that it had agreed to pay $1.92bn (£1.2bn) as part of a settlement with US regulators. Although the settlement sets a new record for penalties on a bank, it should be viewed in the perspective of HSBC’s huge earnings power and the bank’s breaches of money laundering and sanctions [...]
Rapid responses December 11, 2012 The payday debate [Re: The poorest will suffer if we ignore the real evidence on payday loans, yesterday] This is the first honest, data-driven response to the payday loan industry debate I’ve seen. Unfortunately, screaming headlines about sky-high interest rates and vulnerable borrowers have led some to ignore the sad truth that many are far [...]