SVB applies to FSA for bank licence May 26, 2010 SILICON Valley Bank (SVB), the US lender that backed the Twitter social networking phenomenon, has filed an application for a UK banking licence in an attempt to ramp up its operations on this side of the Atlantic. SVB yesterday handed its official application to the Financial Services Authority, a month after it emerged that the [...]
Outdoor ads to come under scrutiny of OFT May 18, 2010 THE Office of Fair Trading (OFT) will launch an investigation into outdoor advertising after players in the sector raised concerns about its fairness. The OFT will now examine whether the industry offers fair value for buyers and consumers. Heather Clayton, senior director of infrastructure at the OFT said: “The cost of all forms of advertising [...]
Scandinavia is protected from Europe’s crisis May 18, 2010 IF YOU’VE read the popular Millennium Trilogy by Swedish crime author Stieg Larsson, any clichéd idea you may have had that Sweden is some kind of socially liberal paradise will have been put to the test. If there’s any truth beneath Larsson’s fiction, it’s that, like any European country, Sweden has its fair share of [...]
Parties ponder future of banking regulation May 4, 2010 PARTNER, FOX WILLIAMS LLP CRITICISM and reform of financial regulation is a political hot topic of debate and a powerful electoral tool. With the fast approaching general election and the narrowing lead in opinion polls between the main political parties, what exactly do Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats have in store for financial [...]
‘BIGOTGATE’ GAFFE HITS GRINNING GORDON WHERE IT HURTS MOST April 28, 2010 SPREAD betting firms always pride themselves on having a finger on the pulse, so it’s a bleak lookout for Gordon Brown if general election seat spreads yesterday were anything to go by. Brown (as even strictly cloistered Martians will know by now) yesterday committed a political gaffe of monolithic proportions, simpering to the UK’s newest [...]
Opportunities for growth in green Asia April 13, 2010 TAKE a trip around emerging Asia these days and you won’t just see skyscrapers and coal-fired power plants growing out of places where there were once nothing but fields. Wind turbines, solar energy plants, incinerator manufacturers, water treatment plants and microirrigation developments are just as likely to spring up before your eyes. There is now [...]
China is setting the stage now for a yuan revaluation this summer April 12, 2010 THERE had been speculation that the Chinese authorities would use this weekend’s Bo’ao Forum – billed as China’s Davos – to announce a revaluation of the yuan. While observers hoping for a move were disappointed, there have been signs over recent weeks that Beijing is laying the groundwork, both in the financial markets and in [...]
Lloyd’s reaps record profit but fears 2010 March 24, 2010 LLOYD’S of London was bracing itself for a “very tough” 2010 yesterday, despite releasing a record set of results that showed pre-tax profit doubled to £3.9m last year. A lack of natural disasters and strong investment performance helped the insurance market boost the figure from £1.9bn in 2008, when hurricanes Ike and Gustav forced to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 23, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES POKER PROVES TOUGH GAMBLE FOR 888 888 Holdings took a near 30 per cent hit on poker revenues last year, but the online gambling operator said it was confident of tapping into its well of social players and predicted a return to poker growth in the second half of 2010. Poker was the [...]
FISCAL POLICY LIFTS LOONIE AND SWISSIE March 23, 2010 As the first quarter of 2010 draws to a close, some currencies are enjoying a safety premium due to their superior fiscal and trade balance position. In Europe, the Swiss economy is currently running both a fiscal and trade balance surplus and it stands in sharp contrast to the much larger Eurozone economy. The single [...]