Good banks leave their weak rivals behind November 10, 2009 THERE are three main messages from Barclays’ and HSBC’s results yesterday. British banks are divided into two groups: strong, private firms that have continued to generate profits during the crisis; and weak players that had to be bailed out. It is simply wrong to claim that all banks are the same. It is also clear [...]
Bubblenomics is back with a vengeance November 4, 2009 IT is time to worry about the next bubble – not just in the UK, but in markets all over the world. Earlier this year, I wrote a column in this space arguing that the housing market in the UK was no longer over-valued, based on historic price to earnings ratios and a range of [...]
UBS unveils another loss amid reshape November 3, 2009 SWISS bank UBS has reported a third quarter loss of SFr564.4m (£337m) after being hit by a hike in accounting charges. The result means the bank has now suffered four successive quarters of losses as it restructures in the face of the credit crunch. UBS, Switzerland’s largest bank, has been particularly badly hit by the [...]
Take a punt on the market outlook for bricks and mortar September 13, 2009 A YEAR ago, many housing market observers were predicting doom. Prices would keep falling well into 2010, they said. The market could take years to pick up. But how wrong they were. Just as we have seen in the stock market, things have turned round much more quickly than almost anybody thought. Mortgage lender Halifax [...]
US banking failures top 120 for the year November 8, 2009 United Commercial Bank, a big San Francisco bank with branches in China, was closed by state regulators this weekend and its operations were acquired by East West Bancorp, also active in both nations. East West said the transaction made it the second-largest independent bank in California. Based in Pasadena, East West has 137 US branches, [...]
Shared ownership getting young professional boost September 3, 2009 IT’S A COMMON refrain that for young professionals in London, getting a foot on the housing ladder can be nigh-on impossible. Increasingly, ambitious young workers are looking to shared ownership schemes. Originally set up by the government as a way to provide affordable homes in housing association developments to key workers like police and nurses, [...]
Hedge to smooth out the peaks and troughs September 29, 2009 COMPANIES with large foreign currency purchasing exposures are increasingly turning to hedging to protect themselves, using derivative financial instruments such as futures and options. Sterling weakness means currency management has become a necessity for those who buy materials from overseas. Take soft drinks maker AG Barr, for example, which reported strong results on Tuesday. The [...]
Hedge to smooth out the peaks and troughs September 29, 2009 COMPANIES with large foreign currency purchasing exposures are increasingly turning to hedging to protect themselves, using derivative financial instruments such as futures and options. Sterling weakness means currency management has become a necessity for those who buy materials from overseas. Take soft drinks maker AG Barr, for example, which reported strong results on Tuesday. The [...]
Windfall taxes cannot be the answer October 18, 2009 IF TAX policy were determined by referenda, London’s financial institutions would be in even greater trouble than they already are. I was a guest on James Max’s LBC radio show yesterday and it was soon clear that the overwhelming majority of callers hate banks with a passion. My own position, which is that it would [...]
Beware: we could soon face new bubble September 24, 2009 UNTIL recently, the worry about quantitative easing was that it was not working well enough, a view which has long stuck me as excessively pessimistic. But in recent days several top economists have started to express fears the policy may actually have worked too well and that all of the liquidity being injected into the [...]