Cameron must stand up for the City – finance remains this country’s biggest asset December 8, 2011 FRANCE and Germany have sent a detailed letter to Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the EU Council, setting out their wish list ahead of the EU summit. Their desires include tighter rules on deficits, which they hope will calm the markets, but also – and predictably – proposals for a Eurozone financial transaction tax [...]
EC boss says nations can’t block treaty December 6, 2011 MOST countries will not get a vote on tighter fiscal integration, allowing Germany to force through new financial controls across the Eurozone, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy said yesterday in a report sent to EU leaders ahead of tomorrow’s two-day summit. US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner added his weight to efforts to resolve the [...]
US stock lift shows hope for debt plan December 6, 2011 US stocks rose yesterday as investors bet European leaders would take strong steps this week to end the region’s debt crisis, including bolstering its financial rescue fund. The latest source of optimism came from a Financial Times report that European leaders will discuss boosting the firepower of the Eurozone’s rescue fund at the summit. The [...]
S&P may cut Eurozone rescue fund AAA-rating December 6, 2011 Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s has fired a second warning shot at the Eurozone in 24 hours, threatening to cut the rating of its bailout fund as European leaders raced to find a political solution to their sovereign debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy want to change EU rules [...]
Regulations sprouting from Brussels will damage the UK’s corporate governance November 23, 2011 In recent days, the implications of the EU regulatory reform agenda for the City of London have been widely reported. However, the financial sector is not the only area of vulnerability to future EU directives. Of wider concern is the growing risk that the UK’s distinctive model of corporate governance – underpinned by “comply or [...]
Mortgage lending falls November 18, 2011 Gross mortgage lending decreased four per cent from September, down to an estimated £13.1bn in October, said the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) today. Though there was a 13 per cent increase from October 2010, up from £11.6bn, housing market activity is still low compared to long term averages, industry experts said. Housing prices are [...]
Tottenham set to report financial boost November 15, 2011 Last season’s run to Champions League knockout rounds swells Spurs’ revenues TOTTENHAM is today expected to report the club’s strongest set of financial results since its listing, with income boosted significantly by last season’s run to the Champions League quarter-finals. Revenue from broadcast, matchday and commercial streams have all increased while pre-tax profit is expected [...]
Motorists are massively over-taxed November 15, 2011 BRITISH motorists are massively over-taxed. In 2009/10, 66p in each pound spent on petrol and diesel was pocketed by the Exchequer, with just a third going to retailers and oil companies. Taking just fuel and vehicle excise duty (and ignoring other taxes, including value added tax) the government raises about £31.5bn a year from motorists. [...]
Think-tanks: UK’s reply to Tobin is weak November 3, 2011 A EUROPE-WIDE financial transactions tax (FTT) could cost the UK’s economy tens of billions of pounds, the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) warned yesterday – and yet the government is failing to act to stop such a tax being introduced, said the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS). The ASI calculated that the UK will be hit [...]
Four years into a succession of crises and still no reform: Time for some Long Finance November 3, 2011 FOUR years into a series of financial crises, from Bear Stearns and liquidity shocks in 2007, to Lehman and RBS failures, Irish and Icelandic collapses, and now Eurozone currency-quakes, there have been no financial reforms to match the magnitude of the problems. An Olympiad later, the world feels more brittle and people jump at any [...]