Wages set to rise at last as the number of vacancies outstrips volume of jobseekers November 24, 2014 Britain’s recovery has pulled so many unemployed workers into jobs that there are now more vacancies than jobseekers, for the first time since the financial crisis struck, jobs website Adzuna said today. As a result, employers are increasing the wages on offer to new staff, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) expects pay rises [...]
London house prices: Renting in the capital could cost you half your salary November 24, 2014 As Britain’s property market continues to cool, rental prices are dropping too. According to data from HomeLet, rental prices in five of seven UK regions dropped between September and October, although the annual rate was still positive at 7.5 per cent. For Greater London, which has the highest average rental prices in the country, [...]
EU beats UK in bonus cap legal battle November 20, 2014 Britain’s standing in the EU is lower than ever, and the UK yesterday admitted defeat in the latest spat. Should Britain ever have challenged the bonus cap? The Bank of England thinks the bank bonus cap does more harm than good. British institutions such as Barclays took a pummeling in the US when they cut bonuses, losing [...]
George Osborne calls off challenge to EU bankers’ bonus cap November 20, 2014 The UK government has withdrawn its legal challenge to the EU bankers’ bonus cap, George Osborne admitted today. The chancellor admitted the challenge was “unlikely to succeed” after an advisor to the European Court of Justice rejected the UK government’s argument. The EU legislation limits bonuses to 100 per cent of a banker’s [...]
This crude EU bonus cap will jeopardise efforts to really reform banker pay November 20, 2014 NIILO Jaaskinen, advocate general at the European Court of Justice (ECJ), recommended yesterday that the court should reject the UK’s challenge to the EU’s cap on bankers’ bonuses, which restricts bonuses to 100 per cent of a banker’s pay (or 200 per cent with shareholder approval). This wasn’t a big surprise, and it won’t have [...]
Banker bonus cap row: Lawyers react to the European Court of Justice bonus cap rebuffal November 20, 2014 The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has rebuffed George Osborne's battle against banker bonus caps – but what do the City's lawyers think of it? To recap, today Niilo Jääskinen, an advocate general at the European Court of Justice's (ECJ), said the bonus caps – which limit bankers' bonuses at 100 per cent of [...]
The European Court of Justice has dealt a blow to George Osborne’s banker bonus cap challenge November 20, 2014 The European court should reject George Osborne's challenge to the EU's cap on banker bonuses, according to one of its senior advisors. Niilo Jääskinen, an advocate general at the European Court of Justice's (ECJ), has said that all the UK’s pleas should be dismissed and that the action should be scrapped. He said that the [...]
Why predictions of rapid real wage growth are likely to be proved wrong November 18, 2014 IN 2014, the UK economy is likely to have grown by over 3 per cent, employment growth has been remarkably strong, some progress has been made on reducing the deficit, and inflation remains low and stable, despite yesterday’s slight uptick to 1.3 per cent on the consumer price index (CPI). But of all the statistics [...]
Is Mark Carney right that clawback may need to cover all bankers’ pay, not just bonuses? November 17, 2014 Alex Edmans, a finance professor at London Business School and Wharton, says Yes. Pay packages should ensure that executives act in the long-run interest of their firms. Short-run bonuses incentivise bankers to boost near-term earnings at the expense of long-run value – such as writing subprime loans or manipulating rates. Clawbacks will deter myopic actions, [...]
Mark Carney: EU bonus cap has “unfortunate” side-effects – reform bankers’ pay instead November 17, 2014 Bank of England governor Mark Carney says massive fines for bad behaviour among bankers hasn't done enough – and that their pay may be overhauled even further in order to "help rebuild trust in financial institutions". New measures could include "clawback" options for bankers' salaries as well as their bonuses, and even paying out "performance [...]