As Britain falls further in recession, does the Treasury need a change of direction? July 25, 2012 YES Sam Bowman With yesterday’s news that the economy shrunk by 0.7 per cent in the last quarter, George Osborne’s economic credibility is waning. But not for the reasons produced by Ed Balls. “Austerity” hasn’t failed because it hasn’t been tried. State spending has risen during this Parliament. The chancellor oversold a small cuts package [...]
Steady hands will be navigating Barclays through murky waters August 30, 2012 THE appointment of Antony Jenkins as the new boss of Barclays is a clear indication that the Barclays of the future will be very different from that of the past. He may be an insider – a Barclays man – but Jenkins is a retail banker, having made his name at Barclaycard and in branch [...]
Coller raises $5.5bn to buy private equity assets July 19, 2012 Coller Capital has raised $5.5bn (£3.5bn) to buy private equity investments from banks and other investors, tapping into a growing niche that has seen some of the biggest pools of capital raised by buyout firms over the last year. As traditional private equity groups have found new capital hard to raise and deals tough to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 8, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Square ties-up deal with Starbucks Square, the mobile payments start-up created by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, yesterday took a big step towards the mainstream when Starbucks announced it would use its smartphone technology to replace transaction systems in its US coffee shops. Under the deal, Square will process all Starbucks transactions done with [...]
Turner wants to take Bank job July 24, 2012 TOP regulator Lord Turner yesterday said he would consider running for governor at the Bank of England, confirming his position as one of the favourites to take the role when Sir Mervyn King’s term ends at the end of June next year. In a wide ranging speech and interview the Financial Services Authority (FSA) boss [...]
Many banks are at fault – but we still need a strong finance sector July 17, 2012 OPEN almost any paper and you will read at least one editorial or comment piece slamming the financial sector. Of course, the banking industry has given its critics plenty of ammunition: HSBC failed to stop the laundering of billions of dollars of Latin American drug money; JP Morgan’s mammoth losses; the Libor scandal; mis-selling payment [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 19, 2012 Inflexion Private Equity The private equity house has announced the promotion of Richard Swann from the position of investment director to its partnership. He joined Inflexion in 2008, and has since led several of its investments. Swann’s promotion follows the firm’s recent appointments in Brazil, India and China. Coutts Johnny Heng has been appointed managing [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 26, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Global role for Citi’s Asia consumer head Citigroup has underlined Asia’s growing importance to the bank by naming its consumer banking head in Hong Kong as global head of retail banking, according to an internal email seen by the Financial Times. Jonathan Larsen has been given the task of bringing all of Citi’s [...]
FSA moves to ward off threat of bank runs May 28, 2012 BRITISH banks will be obliged to display information in branches about how the government insures their deposits up to a value of £85,000, the FSA said yesterday. From September onwards, all retail deposit takers will have to display posters and stickers letting customers know they are insured if their bank goes bust and giving details of the [...]
FTSE edges up as Barclays chief quits July 3, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged up in early trading to continue two sessions of strong gains fuelled by hopes that the Eurozone could avert collapse. Significantly Barclays edged up slightly after chief executive Bob Diamond quit with immediate effect over the Libor rate-rigging scandal. Britain’s third-largest bank also accepted the resignation of chairman Marcus Agius on [...]