There’s nothing fishy about the government selling its stake in RBS August 4, 2015 Red herrings, known for their pungent odour, are said to have been used by escaping prisoners as a way of throwing the pursuing bloodhounds off their scent. Who knows if it ever worked. But if your nose tells you that there’s something fishy about the government’s decision to start selling off its shares in the [...]
As the use of ageing Tornado bombers in Iraq is extended, have defence cuts hit our security? August 4, 2015 Tom Wilson is resident associate fellow at the Centre for the New Middle East at The Henry Jackson Society, says Yes In Britain, we devote a great deal of time debating the morality and efficacy of intervention in many desperate parts of the world. But increasingly, that debate is turning into an exercise in theoretics, [...]
Collective myopia has gripped markets: It’s time to rediscover long-term capital August 3, 2015 “The world would be a better place if businesses stopped thinking so much about short-term results and focused more on the long term,” wrote Adi Ignatius, editor of the Harvard Business Review, in January 2014. The same is sometimes said of asset managers and the investors they serve. A longer-term approach to investment can lead [...]
Why the NHS needs old-age reserves to mitigate galloping healthcare costs August 3, 2015 Do you remember the time when healthcare professionals used to argue that the NHS was adequately funded, and that further injections of money were not needed? Me neither, because there never was such a time. The NHS has always been “underfunded”, and the solution to its woes has always been just a few billion pounds [...]
Independent assurance will make bank capital numbers more credible August 3, 2015 Capital ratios are the best indicator we have of a bank’s strength and resilience – and yet they are currently unaudited. Banks’ half-year results, published last week, showed that these ratios not only remain crucial for investors but are also used by management to drive business decisions. Return on risk-weighted assets has become a prominent [...]
After yesterday’s stock market bloodbath, is now a good time to invest in Greece? August 3, 2015 George Efstathopoulos, co-portfolio manager at Fidelity Solutions, says Yes As Greece’s equity market re-opened with a thud this week, it’s clear that the country continues to pose considerable risks to investors. While the likelihood of Grexit has subsided significantly, it remains a possibility, and markets are likely to see continued volatility over the coming months. [...]
Stock market panic has uncovered Chinese leaders’ true incompetence August 2, 2015 I always wonder about China. After years of contemplating the place, about the only thing I am entirely sure of is that it remains the least understood great power in the world. It isn’t just that its true decision-making processes remain famously opaque. No, it’s that analysts are all so very confident and yet so [...]
Sheffield shows why manufacturing and finance enjoy a glorious synergy August 2, 2015 My title might be “lord mayor of Canada”, but really that’s quite misleading. It’s my job to represent the whole of the UK’s financial and professional services industry, wherever it’s based. London may well be the largest single financial services centre in the UK, but 1.7m of the 2.1m people employed by [...]
Uber competition is good for passengers and drivers August 2, 2015 Addison Lee’s Catherine Faiers just can’t stop talking about Uber. Twice in recent weeks, she’s written in these very pages to highlight our popularity. It’s flattering to get confirmation from others that what you do is in such demand, although we try to focus on our own business. We already know the public likes [...]
With Lloyds’ PPI bill topping £13bn, should regulators institute a time limit for claims? August 2, 2015 David Buik, a market commentator at Panmure Gordon, says Yes. Lloyds Bank’s decision to buy HBOS when it was drowning in toxic debt, and at an ultimate cost of £25bn to the taxpayer due to its bailout, was injudicious. But the “Black Horse” has recovered remarkably quickly. Though it is not involved in investment banking, [...]