States now the top systemic threat June 19, 2011 SO no solution was found to the Greek crisis last night – we will have to wait a little longer before finding out what sort of fudge our leaders have in mind for the Eurozone, and how much taxpayer cash they are preparing to throw at the bottomless pit that is Greece. The markets, needless [...]
Chair role for ex-FSA chief June 19, 2011 FORMER Financial Services Authority (FSA) chairman Sir Callum McCarthy has thrown his weight behind a new mortgage business. Sir Callum is to become the chairman of Castle Trust, a new mortgage firm. He will be joined on the board by a star-studded list of City names, including Lord Deben, the chairman of the Association of [...]
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 [...]
Serenity and decadence at Dubai’s hottest new hotel June 12, 2011 DUBAI seems an unlikely place for a relaxing holiday at first. Even 2,700 feet up, at the top of the Burj Khalifa tower, the whirr of cranes and speeding Jeeps in every direction makes the sea view throb with activity. My guide points past the hollow half-built skyscrapers jutting across the city skyline to the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 5, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES PAULSON FUND FALLS 6PC IN MAY Paulson & Co, the world’s third- largest hedge fund, saw the value of its flagship fund drop close to 6 per cent in May, echoing losses across the industry. The loss tops negative returns in the first quarter at the $37bn (£22.5bn) New York-based money manager, famed [...]
Euro versus dollar: a scrappy fight May 10, 2011 OVER the last fortnight, the euro-dollar pairing has turned into a bit of an ugly dog contest, with both sides competing to see who carries the fewest fleas. However, the euro came out second best in this challenge last week, hit with attacks from all sides. The tipping point for the pairing came when the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 20, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES CHINA TO ALTER TAXES IN ATTEMPT TO CUT WEALTH GAP China is to lift the exemption threshold for personal income tax payments in an effort to redistribute the spoils of rapid growth and reduce a widening wealth gap. The level at which Chinese citizens must pay income tax will be raised from Rmb2,000 [...]
The man who’s locking horns with indecisive EU regulators April 17, 2011 MENTION Brussels to any senior London-based insurer and you will always get the same reaction: anger and exasperation. With just over 18 months to go before the introduction of Solvency II, the insurance industry’s equivalent of the new Basel III banking rules, European regulators have still not produced a framework that properly reflects the business [...]
Some good ideas, some silly ones – but no disasters April 11, 2011 WHAT passes for moderate these days when it comes to banking reform is in fact pretty radical. Yesterday’s interim paper from Sir John Vickers’ Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), if it is implemented, will trigger vast changes to the way UK banks operate – but it reads as a surprisingly sensible and balanced piece of [...]
ICB has to strike a difficult balance April 10, 2011 With such a broad mandate to recommend how to promote greater financial stability and competition within UK banking, the Independent Commission on Banking has a wide range of options to choose from. And while the level of concern within UK-based banks is understandable, it is important to remember that the paper is merely an interim [...]