RAPID RESPONSES July 2, 2012 Winners and losers [Barclays chair was right to resign over scandal, yesterday] Bob Diamond should be applauded for having led and very successfully grown Barclays’ investment banking operations into a global titan. But an operation or organisation typically reflects the standards and behaviours of its leaders, especially if the leader has a strong personality. Philip [...]
Barclays stabilises as value investors return July 2, 2012 AS Barclays’ shares bounced back yesterday, this served as an important reminder to retail traders that the markets are not rational and it is easy to get your fingers burned. Anybody set up to take a short position on the FTSE open would have been hurt as the bank went on to be one of [...]
FTSE up as UK manufacturing decline slows July 2, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged up this morning as new data showed that the decline in UK manufacturing slowed in June. The manufacturing PMI – a respected survey of the sector – stood at at 48.6, up from 45.9 in May and well ahead of the consensus forecast of 46.5. New orders also rose strongly to [...]
Barclays chairman quits in Libor shame July 1, 2012 Barclays’ chairman Marcus Agius will resign this morning as the embattled bank struggles to contain a growing crisis that began with last week’s £290m fine for abusing the Libor interest rate. The departure of Agius comes after Barclays’ shareholders, politicians and regulators have all expressed shock at the circumstances behind last week’s settlement, which has [...]
Eurozone summit fails to solve growing debt crisis July 1, 2012 EUROZONE leaders made only a few small steps towards easing the pain caused by the sovereign debt crisis, and remain far away from targeting the root causes of the currency area’s problems, economists have warned. Politicians agreed last week to make plans for a “single supervisory mechanism” for Eurozone banks, probably run by the European [...]
Barclays chair was right to resign over scandal July 1, 2012 IT took a few days too long but the Libor scandal has finally claimed its first senior scalp. Marcus Agius, Barclays’ chairman since January 2007, has quit, in a bid by the firm to show senior staff are taking responsibility for the rate-rigging scandal. That was the right thing for Agius to do: the Libor [...]
Agius bows out after losing support July 1, 2012 CITY GRANDEE Marcus Agius, 65, who is poised to resign as group chairman of Barclays, was seen as a welcome but unexpected addition to the banking giant’s board when he first joined from the smaller Lazard in 2006. At that time, Agius was at the height of a lengthy 34-year career at the blue-blooded advisory [...]
Scandal is devastating blow to every bank July 1, 2012 IN THE bad old days of 2007 and 2008, at 11am each day, we’d wait with mounting anticipation for the London Interbank Offer Rate (Libor). Queues formed outside branches of Northern Rock, HBOS, RBS and Lloyds teetered on the edge of unsustainability, and we (foolishly) looked to Libor to tell us quite how bad things [...]
Firms give kids careers advice July 1, 2012 BUSINESS leaders are joining forces to deliver speeches to children at the UK’s state schools, in an attempt to improve employment prospects. Robert Peston, business editor for BBC News, is spearheading Inspiring the Future, a scheme aimed at bringing more state school pupils into contact with potential employers and careers advice. Its existing sister scheme, [...]
RAPID responses July 1, 2012 No light touch [Re: From boom to bezzle: this banking scandal will run and run, Friday] The chief big lie in this whole saga is the idea that banks faced light touch regulation. The Financial Services and Markets Act, 2000, was never ever light touch. Wrong touch, yes. Mis-touch, certainly. And definitely overweening and prescriptive, [...]