Cameron must persist with EU reform strategy December 11, 2011 NOW that the dust is beginning to settle on last week’s tumultuous EU summit, where Prime Minister David Cameron blocked a change in the EU treaty, we can start to assess the consequences of his decision. So, what could the summit outcome actually mean for UK financial services? Despite the clamour in much of the [...]
Rolls Building will rule the world undisputed December 11, 2011 IT WILL take some time for the full implications of last week’s EU Summit to become clear. For my part, I will spend much of today in discussion with UK-based EU ambassadors at the Polish presidency’s conference on financial stability and growth, which takes place at the Mansion House. My recent discussions with leading practitioners [...]
RAPID RESPONSES December 11, 2011 Trick of treaty I feel like I’m missing something. Many people are obsessing over the latest Eurozone summit, but as far as I can tell Sarkozy and Merkel have proposed nothing that would make the slightest difference to the Eurozone’s immediate problems. The Sarkozy-Merkel plan is a confidence trick (albeit with a few growth-destroying tax [...]
Cameron must stand up for the City – finance remains this country’s biggest asset December 8, 2011 FRANCE and Germany have sent a detailed letter to Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the EU Council, setting out their wish list ahead of the EU summit. Their desires include tighter rules on deficits, which they hope will calm the markets, but also – and predictably – proposals for a Eurozone financial transaction tax [...]
Private equity is being forced to face new reality December 8, 2011 Cheap money era is over, but there’s still opportunity THERE are those in private equity who like to pretend that our industry somehow escapes the laws of supply and demand. They would prefer investors to believe returns – at least when they are healthy – rest on the “magic touch” of fund managers, rather than [...]
Poetry and capitalism make a heroic couplet December 8, 2011 T.S. ELIOT was a banker, but that hasn’t stopped two poets from refusing to be shortlisted for this year’s prestigious, £15,000 Eliot Prize over a sponsorship deal with Aurum Capital, an investment firm specialising in funds of hedge funds. First Alice Oswald and now John Kinsella have given up their coveted places on the list. [...]
RAPID RESPONSES December 8, 2011 Chinese walls Terrific advice [Culture clash: Five tips for Western firms that want to do business with China, yesterday]. I’ve lived and worked in Greater China many times over the past 15 years. How I wish I read this article before my first trip. If anyone is skeptical about anything in the article, trust me, [...]
Culture clash: Five tips for Western firms that want to do business with China December 7, 2011 EVERYBODY knows how important it is to do business with China, but many business people are making serious errors that are hitting their company’s bottom line. So, what is the most important aspect that western companies need to focus on when dealing with the Chinese? A report released earlier this year by Blackwood Group revealed [...]
Today’s freedom was yesterday’s trade privilege December 7, 2011 THE Freedom of the City originated in the early thirteenth century. Today the freedom is largely symbolic, but in the Middle Ages it was a valuable working document that gave you the right to trade. It would enable you to carry out your trade or craft as a member of one of the venerable City [...]
Cameron isn’t down and out in Brussels yet December 7, 2011 TO THE headline writers, the case is clear cut: David Cameron is at best at loggerheads with his party on Europe, and at worst selling them out. Backbench MPs are demanding that the UK must repatriate powers from Brussels and hold a referendum, but the Prime Minister dismisses such options, stressing that the most important [...]