One size fits all Eurozone is set for total failure April 7, 2011 WHAT a horrible mess. Portugal is broke and begging for a bailout, yet Jean-Claude Trichet, the European Central Bank’s (ECB) president, chose yesterday to hike interest rates by a quarter point. It hasn’t exactly been a good week for the Eurozone, which is facing a slow-motion, ever worsening existential crisis that could end up destroying [...]
Imagining tomorrow: possibilities, probabilities and potential in 2025 April 5, 2011 1 TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNOLOGY There’s been a lot of fuss about digital forming technology – that is physically printing anything from plates and cups to medical equipment and cars. But it is worth the fuss since it will radically impact on the world economy when it comes into fruition. The technology would give us the capability [...]
MP: Financial crisis was due to weak competition March 30, 2011 BARRIERS to entry must be cut in order to promote competition in the banking sector, former City worker Andrea Leadsom MP will say today. A lack of real competition was a key cause of the financial crisis, as market concentration hindered the free entry and exit of banks, Leadsom argues in a report for the [...]
The man who wants to get the SFO ready for business March 21, 2011 The country’s top fraudbuster Richard Alderman may be retiring next year but after arresting Robert and Vincent Tchenguiz he has very publicly taken on the fight of his life. Earlier this month, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), of which the 58-year-old Alderman is the director, briefly arrested and questioned the billionaire brothers along with seven [...]
G7 tries to put brakes on yen March 17, 2011 MAJOR central banks agreed to co-ordinate action to drive the yen lower last night in a desperate bid to stem the yen’s rapid rise. The extraordinary move comes after the yen surged to a record 76.25 against the dollar – fuelling fears that Japan’s economy, already crippled by last week’s earthquake and tsunami, would suffer [...]
Antitrust rules could up costs March 16, 2011 GOVERNMENT proposals to create a single competition authority in the UK prompted concern yesterday that new mandatory merger notification rules could increase both costs and regulatory burdens for companies. The consultation, launched by the Department of Business, details how the existing Office of Fair Trading and Competition Commission will be combined to create a new [...]
Business has won already March 8, 2011 That much of the debate over the Olympics has focused on what happens to its venues after 2012 speaks volumes for the efficiency with which the games have so far been organised. Instead of the endless speculation of whether venue X or Y will be ready on time that is normal territory in the months [...]
Japanese snap up Kwik-Fit March 1, 2011 BRITAIN’S largest tyre retailer, Kwik-Fit, has been sold to a Japanese conglomerate, ITOCHU Corporation, City A.M. can reveal. The deal, details of which will be announced publicly this morning following its signing yesterday, sees European private equity firm PAI Partners cash out of its six-year ownership of the auto repair chain for £637m, which includes [...]
What the other papers say this morning February 28, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES NORTHERN ROCK TO OFFER 90 PER CENT MORTGAGES Northern Rock is poised to launch a range of mortgages offering up to 90 per cent of a property’s value, marking the nationalised bank’s return to riskier lending three years after its collapse and government bail-out. The lossmaking lender could make the new high loan-to-value [...]
London Stock Exchange in merger deal February 8, 2011 THE LONDON Stock Exchange (LSE) has agreed a merger with Canada’s TMX Group to create one of the world’s biggest market platforms. The merged company will have a market capitalisation of £4.3bn, making it the seventh-biggest exchange in the world and the largest in terms of number of companies listed. The London Stock Exchange has [...]