Top banks subpoenaed by regulator January 17, 2010 A LIST of top international banks has been subpoenaed by US regulators. Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, Citigroup, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank, UBS, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital are all believed to have received subpoenas last month. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) wants to question them about the sale and marketing of synthetic collateralised debt obligations [...]
Obama’s tax risks new credit crunch January 14, 2010 IT is clear that Barack Obama’s latest scheme to tax the banks, just like Gordon Brown’s own super-tax, will go down well with the electorate. But both will do little to make the economy more stable and will hurt the very people they are meant to be helping. Obama wants a 0.15% annual levy on [...]
UK banks caught up in Obama supertax January 14, 2010 BRITISH banks are on the hook for billions of dollars under US government plans to hit Wall Street with a $117bn (£72bn) 10-year levy. Barclays Capital, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC will fall within the scope of President Barack Obama’s charge, which is designed to recoup losses incurred by the Tarp scheme. Last night, [...]
Greek debt protection costs soar January 13, 2010 The cost of insuring Greece’s debt hit a record high yesterday, after Moody’s Investors Service warned that its economy risks a “slow death” if it does not implement challenging fiscal reform measures. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou however said he would not quit the eurozone or seek help from the International Monetary fund, further lowering [...]
Businesses are not out of the woods just yet January 13, 2010 DAVID HUDSON LONDON HEAD OF CORPORATE INSOLVENCY, BAKER TILLY WHILE businesses fail during recessions, many also fail coming out, having spent the cash reserves during the hard times that they so crucially need when they have to grow again to serve a more confident customer base, against revitalised competition. The underlying message of Baker Tilly’s [...]
Former AIG boss blames Goldman for its collapse January 10, 2010 The former head of American International Group is urging a closer look at the actions of Goldman Sachs, claiming the investment bank contributed to the insurer’s near-collapse, the Wall Street Journal reported this weekend. Maurice “Hank” Greenberg, former chief executive of AIG, said in an interview he believed not enough attention was being paid to [...]
Virgin Money moves into retail banking January 8, 2010 VIRGIN Money has moved into the retail banking sector after taking over a small private bank in a £50m deal. The move to buy Church House comes two years after the company failed to win control of Northern Rock. Virgin Money will pay £12.3m for the bank while pumping in a further £37.3m of capital [...]
Miners push FTSE higher but M&S weighs on retail shares January 7, 2010 BRITAIN’S top shares added 0.1 percent yesterday as a rally by heavyweight miners, in tandem with stronger metal prices, offset weakness in energy issues, with retailers upset by a disappointing update from M&S. At the close, the FTSE 100 index was 7.54 points higher at 5,530.04, another 16-month closing high. “It looks like the big [...]
Iceland prepares referendum as credit status worries grow January 6, 2010 ICELAND is set to hold a referendum on 20 February on whether to repay Britain and the Netherlands more than £3bn their savers lost when Icelandic banks collapsed. The date was announced as ratings agency Standard & Poors placed Iceland on a “negative credit watch” and warned it could downgrade the country’s credit rating “by [...]
Iceland sees the first anti-bailout revolt January 5, 2010 SOMEONE should give Gordon Brown a copy of John Maynard Keynes’ The Economic Consequences of the Peace. Published in 1919, it addressed post-war Germany – but the book is uncannily relevant to the situation in today’s Iceland, explaining how crippling reparations enforced by powerful foreign nations on an unwilling population are counter-productive. Iceland – unlike [...]