Government’s job is to shield UK taxpayers from Euro chaos May 15, 2012 WHEN a country’s president warns that its banks are in danger, and reveals that depositors are pulling out cash from their accounts at a record rate, it is time to dig out the tin hats and the cans of baked beans. Yet that was exactly what happened in Greece yesterday on another pivotal day for [...]
US and UK plan to end too big to fail this year May 10, 2012 THE UK and US now expect large banks to have resolution plans or “living wills” in place by the end of this year – despite a delay caused by the EU – which they hope will prevent taxpayers from having to bail out a failing bank ever again. The FSA said yesterday that its publication [...]
WHAT’S IN A LIVING WILL? May 10, 2012 ■ The problem of banks being “too big to fail” refers to the failure of systemically important banks like RBS and HBOS whose collapse could destroy large parts of the financial system. Instead of going bust, they are bailed out, creating moral hazard. ■ The key tool regulators will use to solve the problem is [...]
UK company insolvencies rise May 4, 2012 Company insolvencies in England and Wales rose by an annual 4.3 percent in the first three months of 2012 to their highest level since late 2009, official data showed on Friday, raising doubts about the health of the economy. The Insolvency Service, a government agency, said that 4,303 businesses went into liquidation in the first [...]
Sunday’s Greek elections are being ignored – but the tragedy plays on May 3, 2012 ON 6 May, Greece, like France, is voting. So what? This may be the reaction of many people. The Greek economy is under effective international control; the country does not need to try to go back to borrowing on international financial markets for over two years, and so on. That is the official script. And [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 30, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Airline levy could aid UK border chaos Airlines using London’s Heathrow airport would pay higher landing fees to help sort out Britain’s border chaos under a plan backed by David Cameron. BAA, Heathrow’s owner, is studying the proposal, which foresees airlines funding extra Border Force staff through the charges they pay the airport [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS April 29, 2012 SPC The Society of Pensions Consultants has announced that Roger Mattingly has been elected society president, with effect from 1 June. He succeeds Kevin LeGrand, head of technical services at Buck Consultants. Mattingly is a board director at JLT Benefit Solutions and has sat on the SPC council for the past thirteen years. R3 Lee [...]
Aquascutum calls administrators April 17, 2012 Aquascutum, the British luxury clothing brand has gone into administration, the latest high-profile name to fall by the wayside in the consumer downturn. FRP Advisory, the restructuring, recovery and insolvency firm, said two of its partners had been named administrators of the 161-year old loss-making firm, which employs 250 people in the UK.
Goldman reduces stake in ICBC through share sale to Temasek April 16, 2012 SINGAPORE state investor Temasek bought $2.3bn (£1.4bn) worth of ICBC’s Hong Kong-listed shares from seller Goldman Sachs yesterday, piling into three of China’s top four banks and raising its bet on the world’s second-biggest economy. Temasek was burned by its financial industry exposure in 2008, hit by stakes in large European and US banks that [...]
RAPID RESPONSES April 16, 2012 The debate goes on [Re: We need an open contest to decide who will run the Bank, Thursday] The three main objections to a possible cancellation of the QE gilts appear to be, firstly, that the Bank of England would become insolvent, secondly, that we would lose the ability to sell those gilts back to [...]