Tough new funding rules next target on finance lobby hit list January 7, 2013 BANKS will spend the coming years pushing regulators to scrap incoming rules which will force them to match long term lending with long term funding, emboldened by their success in getting liquidity rules weakened, City A.M. has learned. The British Bankers’ Association spent several years arguing the Liquidity Coverage Ratio would force banks to reduce [...]
Recent scandals are no excuse to break up universal banking in Britain December 19, 2012 BREAK up the banks!” goes up the rallying cry. It’s not coming from the mob, however, but from various pockets across Parliament. For those wanting to appear tough on banks, it has become almost obligatory: you’ll only be taken seriously if you push for the nuclear option. With banks as unpopular as they are, this [...]
Women motorists face cover hikes from Friday December 18, 2012 WOMEN are set to pay more for many insurance products from this Friday as the industry takes advantage of rule changes to hike premiums, according to ratings agency Fitch. An EU ruling that comes into force on Friday will ban insurers from considering gender when pricing products, hitting groups that currently enjoy favourable rates such [...]
Green energy subsidies are failing to deliver cheap low carbon power December 18, 2012 TODAY Parliament will debate the Energy Bill. With homes braced for a hike in bills – and nearly 5m in fuel poverty – the government wants to strike an affordable balance between the UK’s environmental credentials and its raw energy needs. If policy is to follow facts not fads, we need a decisive break with [...]
Banks’ challengers weigh in over Haldane warnings December 17, 2012 BOSSES of start-ups aiming to challenge the banking industry yesterday sided with senior Bank of England director Andrew Haldane, following his comments that innovative new finance firms are a challenge to major banks’ dominance. Giles Andrews, the founder of peer-to-peer (p2p) lending service Zopa, told City A.M. that there is “pretty strong evidence that we [...]
Insurance deficits leave the world at risk of catastrophe December 17, 2012 SUPERSTORM Sandy was 2012’s reminder of the damage caused by natural disasters. It hit within a few of months of the anniversary of the Thai floods in 2011, which killed over 800, made millions homeless and inundated the business parks that underpin the country’s economy. Knock-on global supply chain disruption forced Honda and Acer to [...]
That’s capitalism, says Google chair Schmidt in tax response December 12, 2012 GOOGLE’S chairman Eric Schmidt has defended his company against criticism of its tax affairs, saying: “It’s called capitalism”. “I am very proud of the structure we have set up. We pay lots of taxes; we pay them in the legally prescribed ways,” he told Bloomberg. Google has been chastised by MPs for funneling $9.8bn (£6bn) [...]
British Bankers’ Association mulls merger in hunt for cash December 12, 2012 SUPERMARKET own-label ranges, package holidays and … City lobbying groups? Punters’ desire for value-for-money appears to be stretching further than ever in gloomy economic times. That’s the conundrum confronting my fellow City A.M. columnist Anthony Browne, recently installed as chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association (BBA). Relinquishing its role in supervising the Libor-setting process [...]
Bashing City bankers has unintended consequences for middle England December 12, 2012 I HOPE, dear CityA.M. reader, that you occasionally manage to unchain yourself from your desk, rip yourself away from the trading floor, and escape from the shadows of the towers of Canary Wharf and the Square Mile. Because – and I hope this won’t come as a total shock to you – there is a [...]
What the other papers say this Morning December 11, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Call for cleaner succession strategies Companies must improve their succession planning and make sure they have strong candidates ready to take the helm as chief executive, or risk undermining shareholder value and damaging market performance. The Association of British Insurers (ABI), which represents some of the UK’s biggest investors, gave the warning as [...]