Scandal dents Swiss bank’s reputation September 16, 2011 THE three keys that make up the UBS logo symbolise confidence, security and discretion. After yesterday’s news, that logo needs to be redesigned. Although the $2bn hit is likely to wipe out third quarter profits (estimated at $1.5bn by analysts), the loss itself will be manageable enough. UBS lost $1.32bn in the second quarter of [...]
Yet again the emperor has no clothes September 12, 2011 SURELY not. I mean, the Vickers Independent Commission on Banking couldn’t possibly be a case of the emperor having no clothes, could it? Yet as I read through the 358-page tome, a conclusion I couldn’t quite believe kept staring me in the face. If Vickers had never existed, many of the biggest reforms his report [...]
NEW REGULATION September 1, 2011 • Basel 2.5: The changes to banks’ capital regime introduced over 2009-2010 rejigged the methods that banks must use to calculate the value of their “risk-weighted assets” (RWA) – that is, their total assets adjusted for certain kinds of risk. This shifted banks from a Basel II regime to what the industry calls “Basel 2.5”. [...]
Crisis fails to dampen deal prices August 22, 2011 PENSION transfer prices have held up despite the market volatility linked to the sovereign debt crisis, experts said yesterday. America’s credit rating downgrade and the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis have had little impact on corporate bond yields, which drive the price costs of pension insurance buyouts and buy-ins – known as bulk annuities. Pensions consultant [...]
More misery August 17, 2011 STUBBORNLY high inflation and unemployment have pushed Britain’s misery index to record levels, according to official data released yesterday. The misery index – used by economists to estimate the unhappiness spread by joblessness and the rising cost of living – almost certainly jumped to a fresh high last month, as an extra 37,100 people joined [...]
Train ticket prices to rise by up to 13pc August 16, 2011 RAIL commuters will face inflation-busting hikes in ticket prices next year, which could see some fares rise by as much as 13 per cent, following the release of latest inflation figures yesterday. Under the revised scheme, which was set out in the Treasury’s spending review last October, regulated fares such as season tickets will rise [...]
Stepping into the property market of the new world order August 11, 2011 WITH debt and financial turmoil gripping the economies of Europe, North America and Japan, it’s not hard to look at the rise of India, China and Singapore and sense a coming shift in global power. Recent headlines have been staggering: last year, David Cameron led the largest British trade delegation to India in living memory, [...]
The end of an era for Cloud Cuckoo land economics August 7, 2011 IT came as a shock but not as a surprise. America’s downgrade is another psychologically important moment in the decline of the West: the US and much of Europe, once uncontested superpowers, are now the world’s weakest economic link. The post-Bretton Woods era is coming to an end. Asia and the emerging nations are on [...]
ENTREPRENEURS NEWS | IN BRIEF August 7, 2011 BUSINESS CONFIDENCE FALLS BACK IN JULY Business confidence fell back in July after rebounding in June to a 13-month high, according to the Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets Business Barometer. Less than half (46 per cent) of companies were more optimistic regarding economic prospects, a reduction from 51 per cent in June, while those that were [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 12, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES MANAGERS STRUGGLE TO WOO THE WEALTHY Private banks across the world are still struggling to attract new clients, as the wealthy continue to shun professional investment managers in the wake of the financial crisis, according to a report published today. New money paid into private banks by clients fell nearly 19 per cent [...]