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 [...]
Gadgets for globetrotters April 6, 2011 APPLE IPAD 2 Thinner, lighter, faster and cooler still than its predecessor (and this time with a camera too), the new generation iPad is already inspiring tech-envy in airport executive lounges everywhere. Keep that seat-back telly switched off on a long-haul flight, and sit back with this instead. From £399. www.apple.com/uk NOKIA BOOKLET 3G Light [...]
Gizmos that can make the commute a bit more fun March 9, 2011 Shouting into your mobile on the train during the morning commute may be frowned upon, but there’s nothing to say you can’t watch telly. AverMedia.com’s Hybrid Volar dongle will turn your laptop into a digital TV recorder, so you can watch 50 digital Freeview channels. Or listen to the cricket commentary on the radio. The [...]
WHAT’S NEW IN GADGETS AND TECHNOLOGY February 23, 2011 SONY LAUNCHES NEW VAIO RANGE Sony unveiled its new range of Vaio laptops this week, including the strikingly-coloured C Series. Available in luminous orange, green and pink, it features light emitting technology that makes your laptop look like it’s glowing. For the more demure consumer, you can also grab it in black or white, and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 2, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES LLOYDS DROPS MORTGAGE BROKERS OVER SUSPECTED FRAUD Concerns over suspected fraud have prompted Lloyds Banking Group to cull the list of brokers it allows to sell its mortgages. The UK’s largest mortgage lender has removed some 900 individuals over the past four years from its “approved panel” of brokers, including 300 in the [...]
Banks boost capital ahead of Basel rules January 19, 2011 THE AMOUNT of risk-adjusted capital (RAC) held by banks around the globe is increasing as institutions prepare for new regulatory requirements. Banks worldwide had an average eight per cent RAC ratio as of June last year, up from 6.7 per cent at the same point in 2009, according to Standard & Poor’s (S&P) latest analysis. [...]
Petrofac gives job to drilling boss who quit over oil disaster January 5, 2011 OIL services firm Petrofac has hired the former boss of BP’s exploration and production (E&P) arm to run its energy developments business, less than four months after he quit BP in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico disaster. Andy Inglis, 51, will join the Petrofac board in March after relocating to London from Houston, [...]
The future has a whole new sound November 2, 2010 WHATEVER your view on electric and hybrid cars, driving around the city in one of them in near silence is something that takes a lot of getting used to for some drivers. Spare a thought for pedestrians too, particularly those with sight problems. Traffic, in the absence of engine noise, is a potentially frightening, even [...]
Getting off your rocker on the slopes September 19, 2010 WHEN the late daredevil skier and base jumper Shane McConkey strapped his bindings to waterskis and set off down the mountain, it wasn’t expected that he’d cause a revolution in ski technology. But McConkey realised that the curvier, scooped camber of the waterskis gave him greater control when haring down the deep, soft snow drifts [...]
Check through Basel III’s small print September 13, 2010 BANKS around the world are rightly cheerful after the announcement of Basel III minimum capital requirements less stringent than many had feared and, in the UK, still far lower than major banks’ existing capital reserves. The inevitable gasp of relief following this news has brought an immediate uplift for most, but should not divert attention [...]