Regulation

Oct 28, 2009

Virgin gets easy pickings

It’s been a bit of a manic day today as we've spent most of the day talking about the news that the European Commission, after an eighteen month investigation, have given the all clear for Northern Rock to be split up into a ‘good bank’ and a ‘not-so-good bank’. Not just this news, but also…

Oct 28, 2009

Virgin gets easy pickings

Oct 28, 2009

Virgin gets easy pickings

Oct 22, 2009

French tractors in Canary Wharf

I’ve become a bit of a fan of Prospect magazine if, for no other reason, than they have useless facts spotted in the media such as “the average weight of new members to WeightWatchers has risen from 12.3 stone (about 77kg) in 1989 to 13.7 stone (85kg) today” (Daily Mail, 24/08/09). They also have some…

Oct 22, 2009

French tractors in Canary Wharf

Oct 22, 2009

French tractors in Canary Wharf

Oct 19, 2009

Gordon Brown: “I am determined to end reckless banking”

In his weekly podcast, the Prime Minister dedicated this week's to the banks. Here's the transcript: “I’m determined to end the reckless banking practices that have left so many of you worried about your household budgets. “So to give you a better deal we are taking extensive action to reform the whole culture of the…

Oct 7, 2009

The future vision for trading

At the Deutsche Bourse Open Day for IT, I chaired a panel comprising senior figures from Eurex, the International Securities Exchange and IBM. The focus of the panel was the future of trading technologies, and was a wide ranging discussion covering everything from dark pools to high frequency trading (HFT). Questions were abounding, such as:…

Sep 25, 2009

Has the G20 solved the financial crisis?

NO I was going to leave it at that but ok, I guess I better explain. The G20 is here. No more G7 or G8. Twenty of them now. Count them. The big EU players, America, the BRIC economies, Japan. You’ve got Argentina, Oz, Canada in there. Indonesia gets a nod, as does Saudi Arabia…

Sep 23, 2009

Lord Turner and the G20’s new bank regulations

I was asked to comment on Lord Turner’s speech today, which he made at the Mansion House last night. Lord Turner is the Chairman of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), having taken over a year ago from Callum McCarthy, just as the crisis reached boiling point. Reading through the transcript of the speech, it is…