Businesses must back our campaign June 28, 2011 BRITAIN faces a huge challenge. Innumeracy and financial illiteracy are rife in this country, in an appalling indictment of years of failed educational policies. Tragically, millions of people are unable to grasp fully even the most basic of financial products, such as mortgages or savings accounts. In an era when self-reliance and financial independence are [...]
One country gets it on bank reforms June 28, 2011 BELIEVE IT or not but Denmark has emerged as Europe’s pioneering financial reformer. We need to learn from it. Fjordbank Mors, a small lender, has just been allowed to go bust; taxpayers are not having to shell out a penny and the world hasn’t come to an end. Senior bondholders at Fjordbank Mors are taking [...]
One country gets it on bank reforms June 27, 2011 BELIEVE IT or not but Denmark has emerged as Europe’s pioneering financial reformer. We need to learn from it. Fjordbank Mors, a small lender, has just been allowed to go bust; taxpayers are not having to shell out a penny and the world hasn’t come to an end. Senior bondholders at Fjordbank Mors are taking [...]
Aviva sells off RAC to Carlyle for £1bn cash June 23, 2011 AVIVA is to sell its RAC roadside rescue business to private equity firm The Carlyle Group for £1bn, as the British group continues scaling back from non-core areas to focus on its insurance operations. The auction process was fiercely fought, with Carlyle battling rivals Clayton Dubilier & Rice and BC Partners to be the first [...]
CDS confusion grips market June 20, 2011 EUROZONE efforts to avoid a “credit event” in Greece have thrown the region’s credit default swap (CDS) market into confusion and ramped up the cost of insuring the sovereign’s debt. According to data from Markit, Greek CDSs are now the most expensive in the world, with a five-year swap costing 2,000 basis points, meaning it costs [...]
Why Greece is the new Lehman Bros June 16, 2011 IT is a tale of two economies and two very different responses to catastrophe. Last week, the Icelandic government borrowed $1bn on the bond markets, paying only just over 3 per cent interest. It is an astonishing recovery for a country that just two years ago was written off as a bankrupt, discredited pariah, its [...]
Chancellor right that banks must be allowed to fail June 15, 2011 IT is a shame that much of the City will be focused on the crisis in Greece and its repercussions on global markets this morning, for there were some surprisingly good ideas on banking regulation at Mansion House last night. There was a clear shift in attitude on display: the chancellor’s pronouncements were by far the [...]
Two day rally ends on Greek worries June 15, 2011 US stocks sank on Wednesday as Greek debt woes, US data and disappointing profit forecasts fueled bearish sentiment, putting the market back on its downtrend after a two-day rally. Forecasts from companies, including Nucor Corp, Owens Illinois and Ford, underscored concern that economic sluggishness will hit earnings. Bank stocks helped lead the decline after Moody’s [...]
S&P: a Greek default is now likely June 13, 2011 MARKETS were thrown back into turmoil as fears of a Greek default rose again yesterday, with the euro falling and the cost of insuring Athens’ debt reaching all-time highs. Standard & Poor’s added to the anxiety with a multi-notch downgrade of the sovereign, following in the footsteps of Moody’s, which has said that the chance [...]
Rothschild and Hayward in £1bn float June 9, 2011 CITY financier Nat Rothschild and former BP chief executive Tony Hayward set out plans yesterday to raise £1bn in a flotation of their investment vehicle Vallares in London. The scion of the banking dynasty and former City heavyweight have joined forces to launch Vallares as a cash shell to acquire and expand high-growth but cash-poor [...]