Myths and reality of the bank shake-up November 3, 2009 AS predictably as day follows night, the myth-making machine spiralled out of control again yesterday. Perhaps the biggest is that the UK banking system is uniquely concentrated. As Citigroup research reveals, this simply is not so: overall UK banking system concentration (using the World Bank’s measure of assets of the biggest three banks as a [...]
CITY A.M. SHADOW MPC October 7, 2009 ALLISTER HEATH CITY A.M.“Weak money supply growth masks the strong likelihood that the demand for money has dropped, which suggests that there is now enough liquidity in the economy. So the Bank should start winding down QE.” SIMON WARD HENDERSON NEW STAR“Hold rates, suspend QE. Asset price strength and pound weakness suggest excess liquidity. Sluggish [...]
Ladbrokes launches 275m cash call in a bid to relieve debt as revenues fall October 8, 2009 LADBROKES, the book maker, yesterday announced a fully underwritten £275m cash call to pay down its debt, as it revealed its revenue had fallen by 15 per cent in the third quarter due to “exceptionally low” margins on football and horsing bets. The betting firm, which has already had to withheld its interim payments to [...]
CITY MOVES WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 4, 2009 ForestersThe friendly society has hired industry heavyweight Graham Berville to the board as a non-executive director. Berville was formerly director of the Association of Friendly Societies and chairman of the Association of Mutual Insurers, as well as a member and chairman of various Association of British Insurers (ABI) committees. Prior to joining Foresters, he spent [...]
Alistair Darling is being unfair to Lloyds October 13, 2009 ONCE again, the government has got it completely wrong on Lloyds Banking Group. Chancellor Alistair Darling should be happy that the bank is trying to raise private funding to remove itself from the asset protection scheme, a flawed contraption which never really made any sense. Instead, however, the Treasury is turning the screws on the [...]
CITY A.M. SHADOW MPC September 9, 2009 ALLISTER HEATH CITY A.M.“Interest rates need to remain on hold, as does QE. The money supply, when measured properly, is showing signs of slightly better growth. With GDP now growing again, the Bank should wait and see.” SIMON WARD HENDERSON NEW STAR“Hold. Broad money trends look a bit better than last month and velocity is [...]
Lloyds cuts a further 1,200 jobs July 16, 2009 LLOYDS Banking Group said it is cutting 1,200 jobs in its group operations and insurance business, taking its layoffs to over 8,000 since it bought rival HBOS in January. Lloyds, 43-per cent owned by the government, yesterday announced a net reduction in staff of around 650 permanent roles by the end of March 2010. The [...]
Mandelson wins costs from MAG June 23, 2009 Business secretary Lord Mandelson has succeeded in a bid to reclaim legal costs from the Merger Action Group (MAG), which launched an unsuccessful legal bid to prevent the takeover of HBOS by Lloyds TSB. The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) awarded the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (Berr), £35,000 in costs, but rejected a [...]
CITY AM SHADOW MPC August 5, 2009 ALLISTER HEATH CITY A.M.The recession is coming to an end, even though money supply growth remains weak. The Bank should suspend its quantitative easing operations for the time being. SIMON WARD HENDERSON NEW STAR“Await more evidence before deciding on a further expansion of QE. The latest broad money numbers were disappointing but financial market behaviour [...]
CITY AM SHADOW MPC August 5, 2009 ALLISTER HEATH CITY A.M.The recession is coming to an end, even though money supply growth remains weak. The Bank should suspend its quantitative easing operations for the time being. SIMON WARD HENDERSON NEW STAR“Await more evidence before deciding on a further expansion of QE. The latest broad money numbers were disappointing but financial market behaviour [...]