Traders are divided on the effectiveness of Mifid II regulation as just a quarter think it will help move trading to more transparent ‘lit’ venues May 29, 2018 After new regulation hit Europe's financial markets in January, traders are still divided as to its effectiveness six months on. A chunky 70 per cent of traders think the second Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid II) has made trading more transparent, according to a survey by Swiss stock exchange Six. But just a quarter [...]
Turkish lira gains ground as central bank continues efforts to prop up confidence in ailing currency May 28, 2018 The Turkish lira gained sharply against the US dollar today, rising by more than 2.5 per cent against the US dollar as its central bank continued its efforts to stem a steep decline in value. A dollar bought as little as 4.56 lira at the Turkish currency’s strongest point today, after last week reaching a [...]
Brexit deal confidence up but anxiety remains March 22, 2018 | City Talk A new survey from the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Institute suggests there is increasing confidence among global investors that Britain will succeed in negotiating a trade deal after Brexit. Nearly half of investment firms now expect talks between Britain and the EU to end with a trade deal. But they are split on whether this [...]
Small respite for household finances won’t last long March 21, 2018 | City Talk The fall in Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) in February took a few people by surprise given it had hovered around 3 per cent since November. While a drop had been expected, CPI had not been expected to fall by as much as 0.3 per cent which in economic terms is substantial. While CPI remains above [...]
Britain may be left out in the cold over Russia row March 20, 2018 | City Talk As Britain froze again over the weekend thanks to the mini Beast from the East, another chill wind blew across Europe from Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin was re-elected with more than 76 per cent of the vote and immediately ratcheted up the war of words between his country and Britain. Mr Putin’s victory in [...]
Blockchain group Plug has just raised $65m to develop its framework March 20, 2018 An international blockchain group has secured $65m (£46m) in investment to continue developing its framework of distributed ledger technology. The company, PL^G, or Plug, is a collaboration between London-based blockchain specialists Qadre, New Zealand-based venture studio, Centrality, and Switzerland-based blockchain media house, SingularDTV. It seeks to build scalable and secure blockchain applications that operate in [...]
The lessons of the financial crisis have not been learned March 19, 2018 | City Talk Last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned that household debt levels are very close to their 2008 peak and, more worryingly, that many households have borrowed so much that they may be out of their depth. "There are a significant number of households that are in so deep that the slightest sign of rough [...]
US bank regulation reforms spell trouble March 15, 2018 | City Talk On Wednesday night, the US Senate voted in favour of repealing part of the Dodd Frank Act. The act, introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis required banks to hold more capital in order to withstand future financial shocks. It was seen by many as a sensible response given the entire system nearly [...]
Will the number of listed law firms double over the next 12 months? March 15, 2018 When previously unfashionable Birmingham law firm Gateley listed on London’s AIM market on 8 June 2015, hundreds of years of legal tradition were undone, as members of the public were able to buy shares in a law firm for the first time. While this was undoubtedly a seminal moment for the English legal market, Gateley’s [...]
That the Saudi Aramco IPO is in jeopardy should surprise no-one March 14, 2018 | City Talk The red carpet has been rolled up to reveal a sizeable bump in the road. Just a week after the visit to Britain by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman, we’ve learned that the proposed flotation of Saudi Aramco – the world’s biggest oil company and perhaps largest company by market value – has [...]