World Bank attacks US currency policy October 19, 2010 Surging capital inflows threaten Asia’s economic stability, the World Bank has warned, a day after US treasury secretary Timothy Geithner sought to draw the venom from a global row over currencies by vowing not to devalue the dollar. The World Bank buttressed the argument made by China and others that US policies are sending a [...]
The accountant who sees EU rules as a chance to transform his firm October 18, 2010 For a man less than three months away from retirement, BDO’s policy board chairman – in effect, the firm’s international chairman – can’t wait to get into the issues. And to be fair, there is much for Dermot Mathias, who joined the accountancy giant 37 years ago, to discuss. What excites him most is the [...]
Enter the corporate entrepreneur: Britain’s best hope for real recovery October 17, 2010 CO-FOUNDER, MARKET GRAVITY THE UK’s recovery from the deepest recession in eighty years is dependent on sustained private sector growth. Corporate earnings may be recovering, but too much is due to cost cutting, not real growth, and this trend is not sustainable. Recent analysis from Market Gravity illustrates that while 75 per cent of FTSE [...]
Government wields axe on nearly 200 quangos and plans to merge many others October 14, 2010 ALMOST 200 quangos face the axe as part of government proposals to save millions of pounds while a further 481 face reform, the Cabinet office revealed yesterday. The closures will lead to thousands of job losses and are likely to create a substantial redundancy bill for the government, although it claimed yesterday in the long [...]
DO-GOODING HEDGE FUND AUTHORS STRIP MEAT OFF MERVYN’S BONES October 14, 2010 FOLLOWING on from The Capitalist’s coverage of the launch of The Gathering Storm – a compilation of essays by hedgies, with all proceeds going to charities chosen by the writers – the book’s august authors gathered yesterday for cucumber sandwiches and wine at the Centre for the Study of Financial Innovation. As the discussion galloped [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 11, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BLOW TO BANK CRISIS PLANS Regulators are struggling to create a global mechanism that could wind down a big financial institution without the disruption caused by Lehman Brothers’ collapse in 2008. The US is due to propose its own “resolution” regime. But policymakers attendingmeetings around the Internationa Monetary Fund have criticised the regime [...]
Why Gatwick Airport’s new chief has Heathrow lined up in his sights October 10, 2010 SOME people need to have a lot on their plates if they are to thrive – and Stewart Wingate, Gatwick’s newish boss, is clearly one of these. The 39-year-old took up his post last December when the airport was bought by US investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) for £1.5bn from Ferrovial-owned airports operator BAA, which [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 4, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES EU NATIONS WIN A YEAR’S REPRIEVE ON STATE AID European governments will be allowed to provide soft loans and other concessionary support to their banking and industrial sectors for one more year because of the lingering effects of financial crisis, according Europe’s top competition regulator. But in an interview Joaquín Almunia, European Union [...]
M&C Saatchi expects Xmas adverts boost September 30, 2010 AD AGENCY M&C Saatchi hopes a bumper Christmas for retailers will help it beat full-year expectations. The update came as Saatchi posted a 17 per cent rise for pre-tax profit to £6.3m and the same size sales rise to £58.2m, for the six months to the end of June. The news adds to hopes that [...]
Brazil’s central banker denies a currency war September 28, 2010 BRAZIL’S central bank president Henrique Meirelles yesterday warned that there is a serious problem of competitive currency devaluation among central banks but refused to join the Brazilian finance minister Guido Mantega in saying that an international currency war had broken out. Speaking to journalists at the Brazilian ambassador’s Mayfair residence, Meirelles said countries should not [...]