Business ethics: Does your firm cut it? December 3, 2014 The right incentives and senior management taking the lead will make all the difference. In recent months, six of the world’s biggest banks have been accused of rigging foreign exchange rates, while the UK’s dominant retailer has admitted misstating profits by a quarter of a billion pounds. It’s easy to be cynical about [...]
Rolls Royce hit with £350m forex blow May 8, 2015 Rolls-Royce expects to see its restructuring efforts bear fruit in the second half of the financial year, but expects a massive forex hit of £350m. The £350m is a translation effect: from translating revenues back into pounds to report results. This creates a year on year differences, depending on the behaviour of currencies during that [...]
Banks clobbered by $6bn forex-rigging fine but share prices rise as penalties less severe than expected May 20, 2015 Six of the world’s biggest banks were punished with a mega $5.7bn (£3.7bn) fine by financial watchdogs yesterday after foreign currency traders were found to have rigged prices to rip off customers. Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Swiss giant UBS and three US banks – JP Morgan Chase, Citi and Bank of America – [...]
A lesson from Putin: Three Ps to stay in power – pride, propaganda and perspective July 17, 2015 Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis, the tumbling price of a vital commodity, and a currency in freefall with record high interest rates. Russia’s economy has leaped from one catastrophe to another. Yet one thing remains: President Vladimir Putin holds the reigns. Putin’s approval rating is now at a record 89 per cent. And while [...]
Page Group has profit dented by weaker euro March 11, 2015 INTERNATIONAL recruitment company Page Group had £33m knocked off its 2014 gross profit by adverse currency movements, according to the firm’s financial results released yesterday. Without accounting for exchange rate changes, Page Group saw a 10 per cent increase in gross profit in 2014 compared with 2013. But this was reduced to 3.3 per cent [...]
Deflation, no demand: Global economies struggling to up inflation and stagnation is on the rise May 18, 2015 We are now well into the second phase of post-financial crisis recovery. The first, terrifying phase was the period when central banks had to cut interest rates to zero and then develop and deploy new, unconventional weapons, including QE. The European Central Bank (ECB) had to be more imaginative than others, as it tried [...]
Brit Insurance profits dive after IPO costs eat into earnings August 13, 2014 Brit Insurance group reported an 18 per cent slump in the first-half profits yesterday, led lower by costs related to its initial public offering (IPO) this year. The Lloyd’s of London insurer which specialises in casualty, property and energy insurance, said profits for the first half of 2014 were down to £62m, compared to £75m [...]
Pound strengthens as euro slides: Should holidaymakers stock up now? March 10, 2015 With a range of pre-paid cards on the market, there’s no need to hoard currency in your home. The pound has reached a seven-year high against the euro – and with the Easter break fast approaching, could now be a good time to lock in favourable rates for holiday money? The euro has been [...]
China’s crunch point is approaching fast – CNBC Comment June 15, 2015 China will grow this year at a rate that will put the developed world to shame. It will probably grow next year and the year after that too. But the country’s 7 per cent gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate is not what the market cares about. It cares about momentum and performance relative to [...]
Investor caution leads FTSE to a three-week low – London Report April 29, 2015 BRITAIN’S top share index slipped to a three-week low yesterday as a slowing US economy and caution before the end of a Federal Reserve policy meeting led some investors to take profits from recent highs. The US reported its economy grew in the first quarter at just a 0.2 per cent annual rate, well below [...]