20 of the world’s largest donors December 21, 2011 1 BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION US The William H Gates Foundation was created in 1994 to work to improve global health. Created with an original stock gift of $94m (£60.5m), the foundation merged with the Gates Learning Foundation in 2000 to create the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The largest philanthropic organisation in the [...]
To track or chase returns December 21, 2011 WHETHER investors should aim for alpha (beating the benchmark) or beta (tracking the benchmark) is a debate that divides investors. Here a defender of tracking beta and an advocate of chasing alpha put their respective cases. WORLDTRACK ANTHONY CHRISTODOULOU Should investors chase Alpha? In a word: no. Evidence shows that it is futile attempting to [...]
Outlook for 2012: Protecting your wealth December 21, 2011 BESTINVEST ADRIAN LOWOCK 2012 Macro outlook Weak economic growth will continue in the West, as the deleveraging process enters its third year – we are still several years away from completing this. However, any resolution in the Eurozone is likely to provide some short-term support to stockmarkets. Predictions for end of 2012 ● FTSE 100: [...]
A wholesale improvement is the only way for UK banks to weather the Eurozone storm December 21, 2011 FOR the past fifteen months, the Bank of England (BoE) has been backpedalling. Instead of coasting, the UK economy has stalled. The government’s bold and sensible plans for budget deficit reduction are broadly on track for the next few months, but will not remain so unless the central bank shapes up to the challenge of [...]
Much racism has been booted out but don’t give up December 21, 2011 AS FOOTBALL settles down to the news that two of its stars are being disciplined over racist epithets hurled on the field of play, it could seem like a return to the bad old days, when clear racism was a regrettably commonplace part of the game. The decision by an independent regulatory commission of the [...]
Banking reform should rule out more bailouts December 21, 2011 THE rescue of Northern Rock, and the subsequent injections of taxpayers’ money into RBS and the forced merger of HBOS and Lloyds, stemmed from a clear failure of Ed Balls and Labour’s tripartite regulatory structure for financial services. And when a Liberal Democrat trade secretary and a Conservative chancellor came together to try to agree [...]
RAPID RESPONSES December 21, 2011 Move on accounts Surveys demonstrate that individuals and small businesses alike are often dissatisfied with their bank, and yet they are still overwhelmingly unlikely to change provider. Genuine account portability would radically improve matters. Sir John Vickers has called for the formation by September 2013 of a free current account redirection service, that allows the [...]
Ten of the top givers in the City December 21, 2011 AS we now know from the tremendous response to this newspaper’s first ever Christmas charity appeal, the City is full of givers. Despite the tougher times many of our readers have experienced, as a group this year they dug in to support a charity that helps people help themselves. This page is a tribute to [...]
Carve yourself a very merry Xmas December 21, 2011 IN the Lord Byron room of Brown’s Hotel on Albemarle Street, a slow-grown just-roasted chicken rests on a bespoke stand and our mission is to carve it – properly. Mark Hix, ex-chef-director of Caprice Holdings, is hosting a masterclass to revive “the lost art of carving”, and he is teaching over a long roast lunch [...]
Prosecutors say Terry to be charged over racial abuse allegations December 21, 2011 Prosecutors say Chelsea and England captain John Terry should be charged over alleged racial abuse in Premier League game.
