Two top financial regulators to be grilled by MPs over the collapse of HBOS December 8, 2015 Two of the City of London's top financial regulators are to be grilled by MPs next Tuesday over their report into the failure of HBOS. The House of Commons Treasury Select Committee will question Andrew Bailey, the Prudential Regulation Authority's (PRA) chief executive and Sir Brian Pomeroy, a non-executive Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) director. The [...]
Almost half of firms failing to meet corporate governance standards, and not enough attention being paid to culture and values December 7, 2015 Almost half of FTSE 350 companies failed to measure up to all the standards in the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) UK Corporate Governance Code. In a report out today by professional services firm Grant Thornton, only 57 per cent of the 312 FTSE 350 companies with years ending between June 2014 and June 2015 studied [...]
City Moves for 07 December 2015 | Who’s switching jobs December 6, 2015 IG GROUP The online trading firm has named Peter Hetherington (pictured) as chief executive. He took on the role of interim chief exec in October, and has been a member of the IG board since 2002. JP MORGAN JP Morgan Asset Management Global Insurance Solutions (GIS) has appointed James Peagam as head of GIS. He [...]
European Central Bank extends asset purchases to March 2017 and cuts interest rates to new record lows December 3, 2015 The European Central Bank (ECB) has ramped up its asset purchase programme to the tune of €360bn (£257bn), its president Mario Draghi announced today. The programme will now run until the end of March 2017 instead of September 2016 as initially planned, but will stay at a rate of €60bn. It will take the value [...]
Prisons and public spending: how can minister for justice Michael Gove make the maths add up? November 26, 2015 Prison statistics released by the government this morning show an increase in prisoners, while at yesterday’s spending review, the chancellor told the Ministry of Justice to find £600m worth of savings by 2019, which is a 15 per cent cut to his resource budget. How can Justice Secretary Michael Gove make the maths add up? [...]
Autumn Statement 2015: George Osborne’s speech transcript in full including stamp duty, business rates and corporation tax announcements November 25, 2015 Mr Speaker, this Spending Review delivers on the commitment we made to the British people that we would put security first. To protect our economic security, by taking the difficult decisions to live within our means and bring down our debt. To protect our national security, by defending our country’s interests abroad and keeping our [...]
Former HBOS non-executive directors including then-chairman Lord Stevenson and Sir Charles Dunstone slam FCA report November 19, 2015 Former non-executive directors of HBOS have put out a statement condemning a report by the Financial Conduct and Prudential Regulation Authorities today, saying they disagree with a number of the conclusions. In a statement from law firm Ashurst, former non-execs including Lord Stevenson, the bank's chairman between 2005 and 2008, said the report "downplays the unforeseen [...]
Legal & General chairman John Stewart to retire next year November 13, 2015 John Stewart, chairman of financial services company Legal & General, is stepping down after six years at the business. In a statement today, Stewart said he will leave next year, once a replacement has been appointed. "We are now coming to a stage where the post-financial crisis work has been successfully delivered: the company is now [...]
City Moves for 3 November 2015 | Who’s switching jobs November 2, 2015 WRAGGE LAWRENCE GRAHAM & CO The law firm has announced the appointment of Andrew Warren as business development director. He joins from DLA Piper, where he worked for 17 years, most recently as head of marketing operations. RATHBONE INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT The investment management firm has appointed Natalie Merrens as head of investment solutions for its [...]
Eurozone geared up for lending recovery as Draghi weighs up further stimulus October 19, 2015 Financial conditions in the Eurozone are in line for a buoyant 2016 with economists at a major consultancy forecasting a long-awaited revival in credit growth. Meanwhile, the currency-bloc’s policy makers could be tempted into expanding their €1.1 trillion (£810bn) money-printing programme as early as this Thursday after dropping numerous hints over recent weeks. Private sector borrowing [...]