Author: |Posted: 11:59 am on 28/10/09
Category: Snowblog
The figures are dry – the information, to the layman, even boring. “Lending to the private sector in the Eurozone shrank last month year on year for the first time ever” – even as the zone’s economy was returning to growth.
In other words, in common with Britain’s banks, Europe’s bankers have scaled back on making credit available at an unprecedented pace.
Author: |Posted: 6:44 pm on 30/09/09
Category: Gary Gibbon on Politics
The main five British banks will be doling out some jumbo bonuses after Christmas.
What’s changed today is that the Chancellor met the main British banks’ remuneration bosses first thing this morning at the Treasury and the banks said they would abide by the G20 rules which the government intends to bring into law in 2010.
So the bonuses will appear in the bankers’ Christmas stockings – just wait for the truly hideous headlines – but full payment will be deferred for something like three years and only paid across when it’s clear they weren’t short-term evaporating profits. read more
Author: |Posted: 11:41 am on 08/07/09
Category: Faisal Islam on Economics
‘Hockney-esque’ is how the City minister, Lord Myners last week described today’s government effort to reboot Britain’s banking system.
It’s a high-brow reference to the fact that today’s government proposals will be a mix of white and green paper. Many of the more radical decisions will be delayed for more consultation. Some angry taxpayers could argue that toilet paper is more appropriate.
Author: |Posted: 3:58 pm on 22/06/09
Category: Snowblog
I am at the apparent end of a tussle with the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Or I think I am. Last month it was revealed that 51 individuals had effectively failed to pass muster as “competent” to hold key positions in Britain’s financial services industry.
Or to put it more politely, these individuals had “withdrawn” from the application process after being independently assessed by the FSA.
Author: |Posted: 3:36 pm on 09/06/09
Category: Faisal Islam on Economics
Today the chancellor is going into the lion’s den to defend the bankers.
Europe feels that Britain failed to regulate the City ‘casino’ properly, and helped stoke the financial disaster that caused the recession across Europe.
The European Commission has come up with proposals that would give two continent-wide institutions the ultimate ability to regulate individual banks, including British ones.
