UBS unveils another loss amid reshape November 3, 2009 SWISS bank UBS has reported a third quarter loss of SFr564.4m (£337m) after being hit by a hike in accounting charges. The result means the bank has now suffered four successive quarters of losses as it restructures in the face of the credit crunch. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has been particularly badly hit by the [...]
Rock gets go-ahead to split October 28, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling ruled out the prospect of a quick sale of Northern Rock yesterday, despite winning backing from the European Union to split the troubled lender into a “good” and “bad” bank ahead of a sell-off. EU competition commissioner Neelie Kroes approved the government’s proposals to split the Newcastle-based bank, led by chairman Ron [...]
We need to shake up consumer banking October 28, 2009 YESTERDAY was the 80th anniversary of the Great Crash of 1929. Like the present crisis, which has fortunately turned out to be much less severe, the bubble of the 1920s was caused primarily by errors in monetary policy and a misunderstanding of the way the economy works. There was too much cheap money sloshing around [...]
Weak banks and miners pull FTSEdown by one per cent October 26, 2009 THE FTSE 100 share index ended 1 per cent lower yesterday, with mining and energy stocks suffering as the US dollar rose and commodity prices fell, while a sharp decline in ING put pressure on financials. The index ended down 50.83 points at 5,191.74, having risen as high as 5,281.12 earlier in the session. It [...]
Number of US banking failures surges through the 100 mark October 25, 2009 THE number of US banks going bust has passed 100 this year, the highest rate of failure in 17 years. The subprime crisis continues to wreak havoc, with US regulators shutting seven more banks over the weekend. Three banks in Florida alone were wound up bringing the total of failed lenders to 106 in 2009, [...]
Play the Bank’s QE decision with a punt on gilts October 25, 2009 THIS year we have witnessed the Bank of England take the unprecedented step of buying billions of pounds worth of assets – mostly government bonds – in order to loosen monetary policy further than can be achieved through interest rate cuts alone. It goes without saying that this policy of quantitative easing (QE) has had [...]
Availability of credit improving but lending remains subdued October 22, 2009 THE flow of lending to UK businesses improved markedly in August but still remained in negative territory, the Bank of England said yesterday. Its monthly Trends in Lending report also showed that, following robust capital market issuance over recent months, net funds raised by UK businesses weakened in August. The report said repayments outstripped new [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 20, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES GALLEONMOVINGASSETS INTO CASHBrokers to the Galleon Group – the hedge fund whose founder and president, Raj Rajaratnam, is at the centre of insider trading charges – report it is rapidly liquidating its investments in anticipation of a wave of investor redemptions. $12.9BN VALEPUSHTOENDDISPUTE Vale, the Brazilian mining group that is the world’s biggest [...]
Windfall taxes cannot be the answer October 18, 2009 IF TAX policy were determined by referenda, London’s financial institutions would be in even greater trouble than they already are. I was a guest on James Max’s LBC radio show yesterday and it was soon clear that the overwhelming majority of callers hate banks with a passion. My own position, which is that it would [...]
Era of cheap mortgages is gone forever October 11, 2009 WITH official interest rates stuck at rock-bottom levels, consumers could be forgiven for wondering why mortgage rates remain so high. The answer, I’m afraid, is that the era of excessively cheap mortgages is gone forever in the UK. Over time, this will be no bad thing but in the short term it will prove cripplingly [...]