City Moves Who’s switching jobs September 16, 2012 Bowring Marsh Andrew Chester has been appointed chief executive of the insurance broking firm’s specialist international placement broking division. He succeeds Nick Bacon, who is leaving after 26 years in the company. Chester was previously head of Bowring Marsh’s UK and Ireland divisions. He has over 25 years’ experience in the insurance sector. Simmons & [...]
Best of the Brokers September 16, 2012 KIER Liberum has cut its rating on the construction and property group from “buy” to “hold” with a target price of 1,400p. The broker remains impressed by the firm’s management team and strong balance sheet, but has downgraded the stock to reflect a soaring share price. Liberum also points out that Kier’s aim of expanding [...]
Public finances put chancellor in the spotlight September 16, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne will be under the spotlight again this week, with the release of the UK’s public finance figures for August. Last month’s shock news – that the deficit grew by £600m rather than falling by £2.8bn in July – means Friday’s figures will give an even clearer indication of whether the government can [...]
Euphoria of Federal Reserve boost waning as market fatigue creeps in September 16, 2012 COMPARING the Federal Reserve to a rehab clinic offering addicted investors a synthetic high has been a favourite of Wall Street wags ever since the first round of Fed stimulus nearly four years ago. The punch line is that you always need more and more to get the same high and each bout of euphoria [...]
We need a national plan of action to rebuild trust in British business September 16, 2012 IT IS hard to pick up a newspaper or listen to the news without hearing another in-depth analysis of the reasons behind this downturn, and dire predictions about UK growth prospects. With the benefit of hindsight, I think we all underestimated its depth and length and were too optimistic about the global economy bouncing back. [...]
EU banking union: Less may be more when devising financial regulation September 16, 2012 THE Eurozone crisis and domestic banking issues have been enjoying a summer holiday, no doubt helped by the Olympics. But they will now move back to centre stage. The European Commission’s proposals for an EU banking union are ambitious and, if accepted, would entail the biggest transfer of national powers since the start of the [...]
Ten golden rules of investing September 16, 2012 YOU DON’T have to understand how silicon chips work to buy a silicon chip maker, but you do have to understand what they are used for, as well as some of the basics of manufacturing process such as the inputs and costs. On the other hand, simple products like mortgages can be wrapped in businesses [...]
Are the coalition’s proposals for employment law reform enough to satisfy UK businesses? September 16, 2012 YES Vince Cable The UK has one of the most flexible labour markets in the world, second only to the USA and Canada according to the OECD. Despite our economic difficulties we have had over 1m new jobs created in the private sector over the last two years. But we know we can do more [...]
Rapid responses September 16, 2012 Banking rules [Re: Why Britain’s banking rules arent’ restricting economic growth, Friday] Paul Fisher’s article is excellent. It challenges the public perception that banking rules are too restrictive and kill, effectively, the economic recovery. There are real problems facing our economy, but there is also no substitute for good credit risk analysis. The time of [...]
Simple tax planning helps to reduce costs September 16, 2012 But a new EU directive will hike price of life assurance for women I MET a new professional client recently who has just taken out £300,000 of life insurance online. She is married and both she and her husband have made wills, but their combined estates are over the inheritance tax (IHT) threshold. Therefore, on [...]
