If I were Osborne, I’d scrap the 50p tax now November 23, 2011 SO WHAT would you do if you were chancellor? Cut red tape, scrap taxes, subsidise industries or build toll roads? The real chancellor is being flooded with suggestions about how to get the economy moving again, with almost no idea being left unproposed. Each day the pages of the papers are packed with stories about [...]
RAPID RESPONSES November 23, 2011 Property wrongs In Alex Morton’s argument for the liberalisation of planning law as the basis of addressing housing need [Our economy and housing supply are being held back by planning, yesterday], he argues for “a presumption against interference” by councils – only in the next paragraph to call for the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders [...]
Plan your IT systems to avoid being left behind November 23, 2011 AS THE second phase of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid) takes shape, it reinforces the role of IT solutions in aiding institutions and brokerages to achieve compliance without losing their competitive edge. The original Mifid directive covered pre and post trade requirements for shares traded on regulated markets, but new regulations will go [...]
THE IMPORTANCE OF ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE November 23, 2011 OPERATIONS DIRECTOR FINANCIAL SERVICES , CISCO FINANCIAL services play a vital role in the UK economy in providing investment capital and mitigating risk against loss or catastrophe. But most financial services companies today would fail without having a robust IT technology platform to underpin their business processes and operations. Technology has always played a vital [...]
Turning regulatory big data requirements on their head November 23, 2011 ONE of the biggest changes that new regulations will bring in is an exponential increase in data storage requirements. And these volumes of data should not just be treated as a simple necessity for regulatory compliance. Data needs to be stored and it needs to be accessible. “If you don’t use all the data available, [...]
Build a path to navigate your way back to black November 23, 2011 It’s financial planning week – so take steps to economic security by setting a budget and making a habit of saving LARGE numbers of people in the capital face an uncertain future, particularly when it comes to their retirement. That’s according to the fourth annual financial planning survey, commissioned for UK financial planning week by [...]
Get ready for the fallout of euro breakup November 23, 2011 EVEN a matter of weeks ago, trying to get institutions to talk about back tested strategies for Eurozone breakup was like trying to get blood out of a stone. But now we have started to see this change. First came a report from Nomura, looking at the practical fall out of a collapse of the [...]
Five secret skills all chief executives need in order to flourish November 23, 2011 Distractions can trap many people leading companies – to execute successfully, diversions need to be eliminated OVER the past 35 years I have advised many chief executives and have identified many factors that make the extraordinary chief executives stand apart from the ordinary. However, there are five key secrets which are vital for chief executives [...]
The new generation of Xbox Kinect games taking over your living room November 23, 2011 THE Xbox Kinect smashed records on its release last Christmas, shipping an astonishing 10m units in less than six months. Its motion-sensing camera made it the first console to completely do away with the need for a control pad – hence its tagline “You are the controller”. A year later it is still the must-have [...]
POWER UP! | THREE OF THE BEST LAPTOPS FOR GAMING November 23, 2011 While the Xbox Kinect may have helped move gaming from the bedroom to the living room, the hardcore gamers, the guys (and they’re almost all guys) who spent their teenage years playing Counter Strike, still use PCs. Here is a look at three of the most powerful gaming laptops. Dell Alienware M11x, from £900 You [...]