Finance

From FT.com February 20, 2013

If I were a mastermind seeking to undermine the City of London, I would shift Germany’s financial centre from Frankfurt to Berlin, just as the country moved its political capital from Bonn in the 1990s. Then it would be part of a cosmopolitan city where foreign bankers and lawyers might actually want to live. Read more

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Posted in Business, Europe, Finance, Regulation, UK |

John Gapper HSBC’s management cadre runs adrift in Mexico

February 7, 2013 1:13 pm by John Gapper

Getty Images

As an old student of HSBC – or, as I prefer to call it, Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation – I found Stuart Gulliver’s remarks about the inadequacy of its structure following the Mexico money laundering scandal fascinating.

HSBC’s chief executive told the Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards on Wednesday:

“Our structure was not fit for purpose for a modern world. Our geographic footprint became very attractive to transnational criminal organisations, whether they are terrorist in origin or criminal in origin.”

 Read more

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Posted in Business, Finance |
From FT.com February 6, 2013

It has been a vintage week for old remains. A skeleton beneath a car park was confirmed as that of Richard III and the US Department of Justice exhumed Standard & Poor’s emails from nearly a decade ago. Neither was a pretty sight. Read more

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Posted in Business, Finance |

Andrew Hill BoE’s embarrassing governance exemption

January 22, 2013 6:41 pm by Andrew Hill

Adam Posen’s attack on the management and culture of the Bank of England may be the strongest yet, but it is by no means the first – and won’t be the last – criticism of a persistent and dismaying lack of robust governance at the UK central bank.

What is astonishing is that despite countless warnings – three independent reviews, several newspaper editorials and sundry MPs’ warnings – the central charge that the governor is over-mighty and under-governed still stands. Read more

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Posted in Banks, Finance, Regulation |

John Gapper Loeb and Ackman have grown big enough to fight

January 10, 2013 6:20 pm by John Gapper

The showdown between Bill Ackman and Dan Loeb, two activist fund managers, over the value of Herbalife, the US health supplement company, is entertaining for bystanders. It presages more such splits.

Traditionally, hedge funds have tended to hunt in packs – lining up to sell shares short or to arbitrage securities. One recent example was at JP Morgan Chase, where a set of hedge funds, led by Saba Capital, traded against the bank’s derivatives position.

In Herbalife’s case, Mr Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital and Mr Loeb’s Third Point, are arrayed against each other. Mr Ackman has accused Herbalife of being a Ponzi scheme, which it fiercely denies; Mr Loeb is on Herbalife’s side. Read more

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Posted in Business, Finance |

John Gapper Shared fate of merchant and investment banks

January 8, 2013 4:26 pm by John Gapper

Lehman Brothers collpsed in 2008. Getty Images

The demise of London’s merchant banks, which were sold to US and European banks in the mid-1990s after the collapse of Barings in 1995, showed they could no longer exist in the modern world of finance.

Was the US much different, though? Looking back at the 2008 financial crisis, the collapse of Lehman Brothers had roughly the same effect on the Wall Street investment banks as the collapse of Barings in 1995. Read more

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Posted in Business, Finance |
From FT.com December 19, 2012

“If you see a Swiss banker jumping out of a window, follow him. There is sure to be a profit in it,” Voltaire is once said to have remarked. These days, no action by a Swiss banker should be taken on trust. Read more

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Posted in Banks, Business, Finance |
From FT.com December 17, 2012

You have two weeks until the end of the quarter – which, for many companies, is also the end of the financial year. Instead of developing strategy, or working on long-term plans – let alone buying gifts or dressing the Christmas tree – you’re locked in a windowless office. Your sole objective: to hit your targets for 2012. Read more

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Posted in Business, Finance, Management |
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