House prices drop throughout London August 14, 2011 LONDON’S house prices have collapsed in August, yet a leading analyst has said that global financial worries will not impact the housing market across the UK. Asking prices were down in all 32 London boroughs this month, plummeting 3.4 per cent across the capital, according to the Rightmove index released this morning. Prices in London [...]
LSE mulls a bid for LCH Clearnet September 1, 2011 THE London Stock Exchange is mulling a bid for a majority stake in European clearing house LCH.Clearnet, just three months after ruling itself out of the race to own the prized trading asset. The LSE’s move to take control of the last independent clearing house in Europe follows the collapse of its merger with Canada’s [...]
Redrow profit tops forecasts September 8, 2011 Housebuilder Redrow has posted full-year pre-tax profit ahead of expectations, thanks to a ten per cent rise in selling prices, but warned the outlook for the property market is challenging. Redrow, one of the smaller listed volume housebuilders, made £25.3m pre-tax profit in the year to the end of June, compared with £0.7m in 2010 [...]
Why buying property is no panacea September 8, 2011 ANYBODY interested in the housing market and in trying to preserve their wealth in these uncertain times should take a look at a fascinating new book. Safe as Houses: a Historical Analysis of Property Prices is full of useful facts – and a stark reminder that investing in residential property isn’t as sure a bet [...]
The captain of industry who says the UK needs to be more like Asia November 20, 2011 FROM the CBI’s offices on the second floor of the Centre Point tower, you get a great view of the construction site that will eventually become the Tottenham Court Road Crossrail station. It is fitting that the CBI, which was one of the railway’s biggest supporters, is so close to the action, and a reminder [...]
Recalling how machines took over the old City October 26, 2011 IN 1986, we saw our way of life on the floor of the stock exchange coming to an end. How would we respond, off the floor, sitting behind screens? We’d had a while to realise how things would change as we already had SEAQ in play on screens so we were experiencing a mixture. We [...]
Four years into a succession of crises and still no reform: Time for some Long Finance November 3, 2011 FOUR years into a series of financial crises, from Bear Stearns and liquidity shocks in 2007, to Lehman and RBS failures, Irish and Icelandic collapses, and now Eurozone currency-quakes, there have been no financial reforms to match the magnitude of the problems. An Olympiad later, the world feels more brittle and people jump at any [...]
Myners slams bank reforms September 16, 2011 LORD Myners blasted the Vickers report into reforming the UK’s banks yesterday, arguing that it missed an opportunity to properly interrogate the sector. In a House of Lords debate the former City minister said the reforms would neither reduce the risk of banks causing another crisis, nor improve competition. The reforms would also saddle banks [...]
Greek progress lends a hand to FTSE despite retail worries October 5, 2011 RALLIES by hard-pressed banks, insurers and commodity stocks led a bounce back by Britain’s top shares yesterday as support for debt-laden Greece revived investor appetite for riskier assets. Financial issues were boosted after the International Monetary Fund said it “definitely participate” in a second bailout package for Greece if the Washington-based lender was happy about [...]
A chance to build Britain’s answer to Luxembourg September 25, 2011 IT IS clear that one of the things the UK needs most right now is new jobs. Real, private sector jobs. And above all in the regions away from the southeast of England. This month, the ONS has reported the largest increase in unemployment in nearly two years, as the number of people unemployed in [...]