Friday, August 6th, 2010
With most of the results for the first six months of this year now in from Britain's leading High Street banks, a clear and welcome trend of rising profits and rapidly improving capital bases is evident. HSBC saw its pre-tax profits more than double to £7bn, with Barclays almost matching ...
Posted in bank results | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Just attended a breakfast briefing at the British Bankers' Association (BBA) where they were unveiling their Annual Abstract of Banking Statistics for 2009. As the trade body's chief executive, Angela Knight, said in her welcome speech the report contains some "extraordinary numbers ...and shows how big the banking industry is", ...
Posted in Mortgages, Payments, mergers, post-crunch reform, retail banking, technology | No Comments »
Thursday, May 27th, 2010
The new UK government unveiled its initial plans for the finanical services sector in this week's Queen's Speech. The programme includes a year-long commission to investigate breaking up the banks and how to reintroduce more competition on the High St. New PM, David Cameron, also plans to restore the Bank ...
Posted in Regulation | No Comments »
Monday, May 17th, 2010
With the Liberal Democrat MP Vince Cable now ensconced in the coalition government with the Conservative party as Business minister, with special responsibility for the banking sector, how long does the bonus culture in the City of London have left? The Cable guy famously promised to do away with the excessive ...
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
Just some initial thoughts on the overnight news that David Cameron is to become our new Prime Minister as head of a Conservative and Liberal coalition. First and foremost does his elevation spell the end for the Financial Services Authority as Cameron had promised to scrap it and return its regulatory ...
Posted in Regulation | No Comments »
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
At last the final TV debate between the leaders of Britain's three main political parties is almost upon us, starting on the BBC this evening at 8.30pm. The subject matter this time is the economy, which should make it the most relevant of the three debates so far to the ...
Posted in General | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
I attended the TradeTech Europe 2010 show yesterday at the ExCel venue in L0ndon's Docklands and was struck by the uncertainty that seemed to permeate many of the attendees about the potential barrage of regulations that participants in the financial markets are now facing. The uncertainty is made worse of course by ...
Posted in Regulation, Wholesale banking, stock exchanges, technology | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 15th, 2010
It's been over a week now since the starting gun was fired on the 2010 general election and after much sparring over national insurance contributions, and a separate party manifesto launch each day this week, we can finally get down to the drama of the first ever UK leaders TV ...
Posted in Regulation | No Comments »
Wednesday, March 24th, 2010
The Chancellor, Alastair Darling, has said in his 2010 Budget report that he intends to ensure that everyone in the UK who wants a bank account can get one. Speaking prior to the impending general election in May, making some of his announcements quite politically motivated and necessarily subject to ...
Posted in General, post-crunch reform | No Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Northern Rock’s results are out. The bank lost £383m last year, compared with £1.36bn in 2008, so it seems it is slowly getting back on a more stable footing. At the start of the year, the Rock was split into two, with savers' money held by a so-called ‘good bank’, ...
Posted in bank results, post-crunch reform | No Comments »
