ANALYST OF THE YEAR July 31, 2012 TODAY’S shortlists for the third annual City A.M. awards kick off with the five analysts we have shortlisted who epitomise all that is positive about the City. Their independence and capacity to make accurate calls on stock or the wider economy ahead of rivals sets them apart. All have shown an ability to give detailed [...]
Libor is fundamentally flawed and threatens London’s global position July 31, 2012 ONE OF the most famous security posters of the Second World War read “Loose Lips Sink Ships”. The idea was to curtail careless talk and prevent giving away information to the enemy. The Libor scandal has featured a different problem: too little careful talk. The basics of the scandal are well-known. The British Bankers’ Association [...]
A champagne prize for the worst Treasury team in modern British history July 31, 2012 AN ENJOYABLE way of spending a few relaxing holiday hours on the beach is to think about the best team that ever played a particular sport. It can be the team as a whole – for example, is the 2012 British Olympic gymnastic team better than its Russian equivalent in 1980? Or you can construct [...]
Entrepreneurial nations win big in medal tables July 31, 2012 IT’S THE question on everyone’s lips. Which country will walk away from London 2012 with the biggest medal haul? Economists are no different from the general public. Several have come up with innovative ways of predicting what it takes for a country to win more medals than its competitors. Goldman Sachs found that national income [...]
As London firms report low visitor numbers, is hope for an Olympic business boost dead? July 31, 2012 YES Nica Burns So London has a big hit – the Olympics. A brilliant show, with a cast of outstanding performers – drama, fulfilled and shattered dreams, laughter and tears. It’s a once in a lifetime and we’re riveted. We’re either going to see the events, or we’re watching them on a screen. We’ve listened [...]
RAPID RESPONSES July 31, 2012 Banking guidance [Re: Our decisive central bank has been neutered by regulatory confusion, yesterday] I agree with Lord Flight and, as a former financial regulator, recognise the limitations of all regulation. Too much is unrealistically expected. It’s an impossible task to protect fools from their own folly. In my view, the FSA has too wide [...]
MANCHESTER UNITED LAUNCHES US LISTING July 30, 2012 MANCHESTER United has brushed off market concerns by kicking off a $383m (£243.8m) initial public offering in the United States last night. Just a week after reports said the football club had put the brakes on its float due to lukewarm investor interest, Manchester United said in a filing it hopes to sell 16.67m Class [...]
Banks could face criminal charges over Libor fixing July 30, 2012 CRIMINAL charges can be brought against those responsible for manipulating interbank lending rates, the UK’s fraud squad confirmed yesterday, paving the way for prosecutions of individual bankers over the Libor-rigging scandal. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said that as part of an ongoing investigation into the scandal, it had now concluded that “existing criminal offences [...]
Workers should not be spending 650 hours a year on email July 30, 2012 IT seems that we finally have an answer to why productivity is falling in Britain – and no, it has nothing to do with the fact that so many of us are spending so much time watching the Olympics. The problem is much more prosaic and far more devastating: we are spending so much time [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 30, 2012 FIANANCIAL TIMES Blackout in India hits millions A protracted blackout disrupted the lives of an estimated 300m people across northern India yesterday, as the aspiring superpower’s fragile infrastructure added to the woes of a government already struggling to manage a slowing economy, persistent inflation and the failure of monsoon rains. Punk band denies Putin charges [...]
