The ultimate risk-taker eyes growth February 24, 2013 Zurich’s boss tells James Waterson how car insurance can pay if there are no crashes MARTIN Senn seems unusually enthusiastic about the impending destruction of a large part of his business. But the mild-mannered chief executive of Zurich is excited about what a world without car crashes would mean for his company’s motor insurance operations. [...]
Britain: a case study in low-growth economic mediocrity February 22, 2013 BRITAIN is stuck in a rut. No wonder that investors and credit rating agencies are losing patience: the coalition doesn’t have the guts or decisiveness needed to jolt the UK out of its present mediocrity, while the opposition is busy dreaming up new taxes, thinks that a slightly looser fiscal policy would transform our prospects [...]
Countrywide in float plan in bid to raise £200m February 21, 2013 COUNTRYWIDE Holdings, Britain’s largest estate agency, is to return to the market six years after it was taken private, heralding a further sign of recovery in the housing market. The company aims to raise £200m through the issue of new shares, which it said it will use to repay debts and fuel further growth. It [...]
We need a consumer revolution to deliver lower utility prices February 18, 2013 POLITICAL ideas have always been cyclical. When incomes are falling, the economy is flatlining, credit is scarcer, prices are rising and it is hard to find work, the public always turns against capitalism (or the mixed economy corporatism that these days passes for it); in boom times, it tends to be more relaxed about other [...]
We need a consumer revolution to deliver lower utility prices February 17, 2013 POLITICAL ideas have always been cyclical. When incomes are falling, the economy is flatlining, credit is scarcer, prices are rising and it is hard to find work, the public always turns against capitalism (or the mixed economy corporatism that these days passes for it); in boom times, it tends to be more relaxed about [...]
City Moves for 18 February 2013 | Who’s switching jobs February 17, 2013 Arle Capital Partners The private equity partnership has appointed Quentin Nason as head of client services, strategy and business development. He was most recently managing director in equity capital and structured equity capital at Deutsche Bank. FTI Consulting The business advisory firm has announced the appointment of two regulatory consultants to lead its governance, risk [...]
MetLife hit by derivative losses February 13, 2013 MetLife, the largest US life insurer, last night reported a 90 per cent fall in quarterly profits as a result of derivative losses linked to its credit spreads. However its operating profit beat estimates and the company reported a fall in net income to $96m (£61m) from $959m a year earlier.
Pope Benedict saw why the capitalist system is virtuous February 11, 2013 THOSE who study Pope Benedict, who announced his retirement yesterday, have been impressed by his humanity and by his understanding of human nature. Statements he has made on the economy, written in his own hand, reflect that. The Pope, for example, did not see the problems that led to the financial crisis as solvable by [...]
Bank ringfences will solve little February 11, 2013 Chief Market Strategist, Cantor Index I AM enormously proud to have survived 50 years in the City of London. Over the last week, however, there has been little news involving banks to be remotely glad about. We heard some “mea-culpa” testimony to the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards from Lloyds Banking Group’s chief executive Antonio [...]
Cynical Labour has no claim to being a party of business February 10, 2013 CHUKA Umunna, the shadow business secretary, suggested in last week’s City A.M. that Labour is the natural party of entrepreneurship. This is little more than a cynical attempt at gesture politics. Like Umunna’s father, my parents came to Britain with very little and set up their own businesses. The small shops they owned created jobs [...]