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 ...
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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 »
Friday, April 16th, 2010
Last night’s first debate among the party leaders shed more heat than light on the economic issues. Guest blogger, Steve Schifferes, Marjorie Dean Professor of Financial Journalism, at City University London, provides an analysis of the leaders’ performance.
Gordon Brown didn’t wait long before going on the attack about potential ...
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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 ...
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Wednesday, December 9th, 2009
As expected, the Chancellor, Alastair Darling, has unveiled a one-off 'super tax' on bankers' bonuses as part of his pre-Budget report (PBR) today. The new levy has been set at 50 per cent of any individual discretionary bonus paid above £25,000. The banks themselves, rather than the bankers, will have to ...
Posted in General, post-crunch reform | No Comments »
Monday, December 7th, 2009
Speculation is rife at the moment that the UK banking industry is facing a multi-billion pound windfall tax this Wednesday when the Chancellor, Alastair Darling, unveils his pre-Budget report (PBR). The move is thought to be in response to the recent row between the government and the directors of RBS who ...
Posted in Regulation, post-crunch reform | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
I attended a clubbable FS event last night at the Lloyds of London building where the shadow chancellor for the Liberal Democrats, Dr Vincent Cable, one of the few figures to have actually enhanced his reputation following the financial meltdown of last year, gave a presentation entitled The New World ...
Posted in G20, Regulation, post-crunch reform | No Comments »
Friday, August 7th, 2009
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group reported a pre-tax profit of £15m today for the first six months of the year, but this was transformed into a £1 bn loss after paying tax and dividends to the UK government, which owns 70 per cent of the group following its rescue ...
Posted in General, Regulation, bank results | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Just a quick blog about a great TV show I saw last night called Freefall on the BBC. The plot was about three central characters – a top City executive selling CDOs and other exotic investments, perhaps their first ever mention on a mainstream drama programme; a mortgage broker selling ...
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
