Chinese actions shape Asian currency moves January 26, 2010 ASIAN currencies can be tricky for an investor to navigate. They have long been seen as a tangled web of fixed, floating and managed exchange rates. On top of that, political risk abounds. Some investors were caught off guard after a coup in Thailand in 2008 caused a steep fall in the value of the [...]
All can fail: my new manifesto for the banks January 25, 2010 REGULAR readers of this column will know that I am no fan of many of the proposals being cooked up to reform the banks. I have opposed Barack Obama’s plan to ban retail banks from engaging in proprietary trading; George Osborne’s support of Glass-Steagall, which would break up commercial and investment banks; and Alistair Darling’s [...]
Dunfermline’s £1.5bn of aid gets EU nod January 25, 2010 THE European Commission yesterday cleared a plan by British authorities to provide aid of over £1.5bn to facilitate the restructuring of Dunfermline Building Society. The restructuring saw the split-up of the building society, of which a part containing good assets and liabilities was sold in an auction to a competitor. “The Commission found that the [...]
Bradford & Bingley liquidation cleared by European Union January 25, 2010 EU REGULATORS yesterday cleared the liquidation of failed British bank Bradford & Bingley after a request from UK authorities, which broke up and partly nationalised the lender nearly two years ago. Hit by a sharp rise in funding costs during the credit crunch, Bradford & Bingley sold its savings business and branch network to Spain’s [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 11, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES LEHMAN WARNS ON US CLAIMS Big banks seeking to make windfall profits by making “outrageously unreasonable” claims against Lehman Brothers’ US business will be forced to prove their case in public courts, the executive leading the unwinding of the failed bank has warned. Bryan Marsal, the chief executive of Lehman Brothers Holdings, who [...]
Bus firms facing investigation January 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S big five bus firms are facing a probe over concerns that limited competition is driving up fares. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is asking the Competition Commission to investigate the industry after finding that a distorted market was causing higher prices and poorer services. The probe is likely to hit firms such as [...]
Mobile tie-up December 17, 2009 THE proposed merger of Orange and T-Mobile could curb competition and hurt consumers, regulator Ofcom has warned. Ofcom said it was satisfied that consumers were well served thanks to competition between the country’s five mobile carriers, but this situation could change if the merger were to go ahead. The regulator has no direct authority to [...]
SUITOR LIES IN WAIT AS HOODLESS PLANS FOR A CHANGE OF SCENERY December 17, 2009 THINGS are hotting up over at broker Hoodless Brennan, which I hear is currently in the final throes of negotiating a move from its current Canary Wharf HQ back to the quainter environs of the Square Mile. The brokers at Hoodless, which plans to shack up on Finsbury Pavement some time early next year, are [...]
SOVEREIGN SCORES A COUP AS IT NETS BANK GRANDEE BOB WIGLEY December 16, 2009 MY MY , but hasn’t it been an eventful few months for Aim-listed home equity release firm Sovereign Reversions? Back in August, Countrywide chairman Harry Hill and a couple of fellow dissident shareholders caused a touch of controversy by trying to oust Sovereign’s board and put the company into run-off by sending out pre-ticked proxy [...]
CITY TYPES FANCY A FLUTTER ON RACE GAME December 6, 2009 AN ENTERPRISING businessman, a barrel-load of twenty quid tickets, the chance to win a lucrative prize of your dreams… sound familiar? It may well do, given ex-Nomura banker Andrew Paul’s recent venture selling tickets for the chance to win his mansion, Aston Martin and power boat, which is now going to be made into a [...]