Cable takes aim at financial privacy May 3, 2010 OUR front page story contains an intriguing scoop : Vince Cable believes that “there is an argument” for applying to all publically listed companies in all industries his idea of disclosing the name of anyone earning £200,000 or more. At the moment, Lib Dem policy is only to do this for the banks; but the [...]
The man who could be chancellor plans radical changes for the City May 3, 2010 Allister Heath and David Crow pay a visit to Vince Cable ahead of the last week of the election campaign FEW politicians have emerged from the financial crisis with their reputation intact. Vince Cable must be the only one who has actually enhanced his, with his brand of left-wing policies playing perfectly to the shifting [...]
Don’t forget an ETF’s dividend April 28, 2010 WITH earnings season once again upon us, investors are turning their minds towards the possibility that their share holdings will pay them at least some dividend income. Although figures earlier this week from Capita Registrars showed that British firms paid out 2.5 per cent less in dividends in the first quarter than the same period [...]
Osborne: hung house will paralyse the UK April 26, 2010 THERE is a “clear risk of economic paralysis, higher interest rates and a loss of market confidence” if the general election results in a hung parliament, George Osborne warned yesterday. Speaking in an exclusive interview with City A.M., the shadow chancellor said the Tories needed to win an overall majority so they could make “the [...]
Barclays in line for strong profit haul April 25, 2010 BARCLAYS will this week continue the bumper first quarter earnings trend set by the major US banks, with profits set to be buoyed by declining impairment charges and a strong start to the year in investment banking. Barclays is expected to post first-quarter pre-tax profits of between £1.8bn and £2bn when it unveils numbers on [...]
Barclays April 25, 2010 AS oxymorons go, “good credit crisis” is right up there with “classy strip club” and “luxury studio flat”. But compared to rivals, Barclays has emerged from the near meltdown of the financial sector in fine fettle. Over the last seven years, top line income has grown by a compound annual growth rate of 18 per [...]
LIB DEMS SET TO RIDE CREST OF BEER WAVE April 15, 2010 A WELCOME pre-election boost for Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, from the most unusual of quarters – the traditionally right-leaning environs of the City. It’s just 20 days before polling day and Clegg’s policies haven’t exactly met with rapt enthusiasm from the Square Mile, what with proposals to slap a “mansion tax” on homes worth [...]
Weighing up that big move overseas April 15, 2010 IN THE past two weeks BlueCrest, one of the largest hedge funds in the City, and chemicals group Ineos have both announced they are leaving the UK for tax reasons, relocating to Guernsey and Switzerland. But will the UK’s tax and regulation laws force entrepreneurs to do the same? Yes, says David Kilshaw, partner at [...]
Clegg: we’ll hike capital gains tax April 14, 2010 NICK Clegg yesterday said a Liberal Democrat government would introduce a new 50p top rate of capital gains tax, as he unveiled a manifesto that promised to clobber the City. The Lib Dem leader said capital gains tax would be brought in line with income tax, with two rates: 20 per cent and 50 per [...]
Labour and Liberals move to the left April 14, 2010 NEW Labour isn’t dead: about that Alistair Darling could not have been any more emphatic in his interview with City A.M. today. We asked him whether Labour’s manifesto – with its 50p tax, restrictions on hostile takeover bids, increases in regulation and no clear plan to reduce the size of the state – should be [...]