News and comment
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Citywire Money, Tax and Property
- House price reports: who needs 'em?
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:01:00 +0100
Is there such a thing as a 'useful' house price index, one that can be used by buyers and sellers to reflect on their own individual deals in any meaningful way? Linton Chiswick reports on the difficult questions an official investigation into house prices must tackle.
- Morning Line: the mortgage lending tactics that distort the market
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:03:33 +0100
Mortgage lenders should follow Coventry's example and stop practices like conditional lending.
FT.com - Financial Markets News
- Mood stays positive after US jobless claims slow
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:19:06 GMT
Global market overview: Surprisingly positive US jobs data has given some support to stock buyers, but trading is still cautious as fears for the global economy and European banks linger
- Storage growth to keep natural gas off lows
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 21:18:09 GMT
The combination of more capacity and less need for it has brought a calm stretch for one of the most volatile commodities
Citywire Investment News
- Barclays Wealth continues alternatives push with double appointment
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:16:59 +0100
Barclays Wealth has beefed up its alternatives team in London with a double appointment.
- Invesco Perpetual selling down Rolls-Royce as Harrison buys in
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 14:01:02 +0100
Invesco Perpetual's has been trimming its stake in blue chip Rolls- Royce just as Threadneedle's head of UK equities Leigh Harrison has been buying into the stock.
Citywire News
- Junior oil shares: risky, but the returns can be enormous
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:01:00 +0100
Experienced investor David Kempton explains what junior oil companies he is investing in and why. There are dangers, but careful assessment and following a few obvious rules can mitigate much of the risk, he says.
- HSBC's Turner says double-dip risk overplayed
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:01:00 +0100
The prospect of a double-dip recession has been overplayed, according to HSBC chief economist Dennis Turner, speaking at the New Model Adviser retreat in Brighton.
FT.com - Equities
- High-frequency traders battle to make big returns
Thu, 9 Sep 2010 23:42:16 +0100
Fierce competition and unfavourable conditions in important markets make it harder to generate profits
- Safety first in search for income
Thu, 9 Sep 2010 23:10:31 +0100
Bond mentality is invading the equity world, with investors seeking safer and more generous yields.
BBC News
- UN urges Kosovo and Serbia talks
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:39:47 GMT
The UN adopts a resolution calling for direct talks between Serbia and Kosovo, in a move seen as a breakthrough in the long-running dispute.
- Minister defends using detectives
Fri, 10 Sep 2010 00:25:04 GMT
Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly defends his use of private detectives to carry out investigations of his aides and colleagues.
Sky Business News
- Defence Giant BAE Axes Nearly 1,000 Jobs
Defence giant BAE Systems is to axe more than 900 jobs from its military divisions.
- Profit Warning As Argos And Homebase Suffer
The owner of the Argos and Homebase chains has warned its half-year profits will be down by as much as 25% as it battles tough trading conditions.
BBC Business News
- Bloodhound budgets
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 23:01:21 GMT
Are speed records indulgent or are there benefits for all?
- Bank rules to 'prevent another crisis'
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 22:08:58 GMT
The world's top central bankers and regulators are meeting to approve new rules to prevent another financial crisis.
Times Online Top Stories
- Government scales back child worker vetting scheme
Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:05:54 GMT
Plans to vet millions of people working with children and vulnerable adults are to be scaled back to ?common sense? levels, the Government announced todayimg width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/440134/s/b2c452c/mf.gif' border='0'/br/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199304108/u/0/f/440134/c/32313/s/187450668/kg/45/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199304108/u/0/f/440134/c/32313/s/187450668/kg/45/a2.img" border="0"//a
- Live: Bloody Sunday families shown Saville report
Tue, 15 Jun 2010 10:03:21 GMT
9.40 BST On a January morning 38 years ago, 13 protesters died at the hands of British paratroopers and 14 were injured, one so seriously he died four months later. For many of their relatives, the years since have been dominated by the search for truth about what happened during 25 chaotic minutes in central Londonderry.img width='1' height='1' src='http://feeds.timesonline.co.uk/c/32313/f/440134/s/b2c072c/mf.gif' border='0'/br/br/a href="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199169760/u/0/f/440134/c/32313/s/187434796/a2.htm"img src="http://da.feedsportal.com/r/73199169760/u/0/f/440134/c/32313/s/187434796/a2.img" border="0"//a
BBC: Robert Peston
- Regulators agree 7% capital ratio for banks
Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:02:59 +0000
Central bank governors and senior regulators are set to ordain that banks must have a minimum core tier one capital ratio, including a new so-called "buffer" to protect against extreme economic conditions, of 7%, I can reveal.
This is considerably lower than was wanted by the "hawks", the US, UK and Switzerland. They wanted a core tier one capital ratio of 8 to 9% including buffer, which is what British banks currently have to maintain. In fact most British banks currently have a core tier one ratio of around 10%.
But the new 7% minimum has been agreed in the face of stiff resistance from a number of countries, led by Germany, many of whose banks typically have much lower stocks of core capital in the form of equity and retained earnings - and will have great difficulty meeting the new standard.
This new international minimum was negotiated by regulatory and central banking officials in a meeting of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision earlier this week. It is expected to be approved by the governors and senior regulators when they meet in Basle on Sunday.
It will then be ratified in a final, supposedly irrevocable way by the heads of the G20 governments, at their summit in November.The 7% minimum represents a dramatic increase on the current minimum of 2%. That 2% minimum is widely seen as far too low: banks' low levels of capital relative to their assets was a major contributor to the severity of the 2008 banking crisis, as investors lost confidence in their ability to survive losses.
As they approached collapse, the capital ratios of Northern Rock and Royal Bank of Scotland fell to dangerously low levels - which is why Northern Rock was nationalised and RBS was semi-nationalised.
The point of capital is to absorb losses when loans and investments turn bad.
Although this new 7% minimum ratio of core capital (in the form of equity and retained earnings) to assets (loans and investments) as measured on a risk-weighted basis represents a significant increase, some will argue that the ratio is still too low.
One reason for this is that the absolute minimum capital ratio, without buffer, will be around 4%, or double the previous minimum.
Under the new system, if a bank's capital ratio falls below 7% or would fall below 7% when the bank is tested for financial stresses, the bank will be forced by regulators to raise new capital. And if the ratio falls below 4%, the bank will be put into "resolution" - which means that it will be taken over by regulators and wound up.
It means that banks' core capital ratios must always be above 7% in normal economic and financial conditions. But regulators would tolerate those ratios falling below 7% for short periods during economic downturns.
A senior regulator has told me that many of the biggest banks - those "too-big-to-fail" banks whose collapse would cause ruptures to the financial system - will in practice be forced to hold more than the 7% minimum."There will be some kind of add-on for systemically important banks," he said. So the likes of Barclays, JP Morgan, Royal Bank of Scotland, UBS and so on will in practice have to maintain core capital ratios greater than 7%.
The major concern of banks about the imposition of the higher capital ratios is that it will constrain their ability to lend in the transition period, as they build up stocks of capital - and that could undermine the global economic recovery.
The point is that there are two ways for banks to raise capital ratios: they can persuade investors to buy new shares; or they can shrink their balance sheets relative to their existing stock of capital by lending and investing less.
Because of the threat to economic growth of rapid implementation of the new capital ratios, the regulators and central bank governors are expected to give banks several years to meet the new standards.
- Goldman fined £20m by FSA
Wed, 08 Sep 2010 20:19:36 +0000
I can reveal that Goldman Sachs has been fined around £20m by the Financial Services Authority for failing to tell the City regulator that it was being investigated by the SEC - the US regulator - for alleged fraud over the way it sold a subprime mortgage investment.
Goldman also failed to tell the FSA that Fabrice Tourre, the executive who created the relevant mortgage product, was under investigation: this was relevant because Mr Tourre transferred from the US to London, and therefore had to be authorised by the FSA.
The FSA accused Goldman of failing to have the necessary systems for keeping it informed of investigations by other regulators. Goldman has admitted that it made a mistake.
I understand that Goldman would have been fined more, but received a discount for early settlement.
The FSA announced in April it was investigating Goldman, but never disclosed why it was doing so.
The £20m is one of the heaviest fines ever imposed by the FSA.
In July, Goldman settled the fraud charge with the SEC, agreeing to pay $550m.
The mortgage product at the centre of the storm was a collateralised debt obligation called ABACUS 2007-ACI.
FT.com - Your Investments
- Be heartened by the resilience of the market
Fri, 3 Sep 2010 19:12:55 +0100
Given the steady flow of weak economic news throughout the month, the market's resilience is worth thinking about
- Concerns on high fees
Fri, 3 Sep 2010 18:54:00 +0100
Fund groups are coming under pressure to cut the fees they charge investors, amid concerns that high fees can impact performance over the long term
FT.com - Your Pension
- Payments pared into final salary schemes
Fri, 3 Sep 2010 18:42:46 +0100
European and US companies are 'drastically' paring back their contributions to defined-benefit pension schemes in an attempt to reduce their costs, a study from Mercer, the management consultancy
- Savers hold on to pension pots
Fri, 3 Sep 2010 18:09:15 +0100
Investors are increasingly leaving their pension pots invested in the stock market, as the retirement income offered by insurance companies fell to an all-time low this week
FT.com - Your Tax
- Inflation-beating Isa closes
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 17:10:02 +0100
Huge demand from savers has prompted the withdrawal of the only account that guaranteed a return over inflation
- IHT ruling spells relief?for?landowners
Fri, 27 Aug 2010 16:51:10 +0100
Traditional estate landowners were given good news last week after a tax tribunal in Scotland rejected an appeal from HM Revenue Customs (HMRC) that could have landed many rural estates with huge inheritance tax (IHT) bills
FT.com - Your Property
- Big six dominate mortgage market
Thu, 9 Sep 2010 13:02:52 +0100
The six big high-street lenders accounted for over 90 per cent of all mortgages advanced in 2009, as competition and consumer choice continued to be constrained by the credit crunch
- Warning over housing benefit cuts
Tue, 7 Sep 2010 17:50:08 +0100
The British Property Federation (BPF), which represents property investors, warned on Tuesday that the government's proposed cuts to housing benefits are a "recipe for destitution" that would hamper economic recovery across the country