The Finanser’s Week: 15th August – 21st August 2011

Our biggest stories of the week are ...

Do you know what this number means? 

So I’m walking around New York and stumble across Broadway and 32nd where this billboard is over Penn Station’s subway entrance: Now I am confused on so many levels. First, who’s that woman covering up her breasts? Isn’t America the...

HSBC stumble with Secure Key 

HSBC have just hit the headlines as they’ve launched an additional layer of internet security, in th form of a calculator terminal called ‘secure key’. The calculator is small enough to attach to a key fob, and generates a random ...

Can the SEC and FSA really stop insider trading?

It’s funny and amazing how many ways we communicate these days as, being in the USofA, I’m in a meeting where we are all twittering, emailing, text messaging, Skyping … you name it. This makes it interesting from a regulatory...

Bank brands leave something to be desired 

I was trying to work out what would be a luxury or aspirational brand in banking. There are plenty of banks out there, and plenty of bank brands, but are any of those brands truly aspirational? For cars, it’s easy:...

The major general news stories of the week include ... 

RBS cutting customers' ATM access - BBC
Royal Bank of Scotland is to stop nearly one million account holders from using cash machines owned by its rivals.

4,000 jobs at risk as BofA sells MBNA - The Independent
About 4,000 jobs are at risk after Bank of America decided to exit its credit card business in the UK and Ireland. The division, known as MBNA, employs about 3,500 people at its site in Chester, and 500 people in Ireland. It boasts one of the largest portfolios in Europe,

Hedge funds banned for flagrant deception - The Telegraph
Two London-based hedge fund managers have been fined and banned from the City for deceiving investors in a case described by a tribunal as "worse than any other" it had seen.

Consumers Show Deep 'Love' for Online Banking - Bank Innovation
Among consumers, online banking has assumed a deep primacy, according to new Bank Innovation Monitor data released today.

VIDEO: How an apple can explain short-selling - BBC
The BBC's Aaron Heslehurst explains short-selling through the medium of an apple.

The blame game – UK banks edition - Financial Times
Thought the recent sell-off in UK banking stocks was due to the eurozone debt crisis, funding jitters or even the downgrade of the USAA+? Well, you were wrong. It’s all about regulation. Gold plating regulation to be precise.

UK banks fund deadly cluster-bomb industry - The Independent
British high-street banks, including two institutions that were bailed out by taxpayers, are investing hundreds of millions of pounds in companies that manufacture cluster bombs – despite a growing global ban outlawing the production and trade of the weapons.

Pressures grows on UK banks to cut costs - The Telegraph
Falling revenues have put increased pressure on Britain's banks to cut costs as managers become worried about future growth, according to accountants KPMG.

Ring fencing is not the answer to banks' problems - The Telegraph
It was pleasing to see that in the wake of the concern over the health of major European banks late last week, the UK stood firm.

Vickers now expected to take tough line on banks - The Independent
Sir John Vickers, chairman of the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB), is reportedly ready to defy the big banks and impose tougher than expected "ring fencing" of their retail and investment banking activities when he presents his report on 12 September.

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