Bankers receive a pleasant surprise when they opened their copies of the Treasury Select Committee's findings on Sir John Vickers' interim report from his Independent Banking Commission... more
For the better part of five years the Financial Services Authority and independent financial advisers have been grappling with the retail distribution review... more
Warren Buffett's annual letter to shareholders is always worth reading, not just for what he says about the different businesses within the Berkshire Hathaway group but for his wider comments on the business scene... more
There is no greater confirmation that the City has returned to "business as usual" than the restoration of the bank bonus season - the rewards are as excessive as ever and the justification for them as flimsy... more
The men who run the taxpayers' stakes in Britain's bank face a grilling from MPs next week as the row over bonuses and a lack of lending continues to fuel public anger... more
When Barclays’ chief Bob Diamond faced MPs this week, Streatham’s Chuka Umunna was the one to skewer him. Is this a sign of great things to come?... more
The Bank of England Governor is fond of saying that the job of central banks is to take away the punchbowl when the party gets started, and he’s underlined the point when adding to his hoard of acronyms to describe the nation’s economic plight... more
The appointment of Sir Philip Green to head a review of government spending was like “putting Herod in charge of a creche”, according to TUC deputy general-secretary Frances O’Grady... more
Curious tales are coming out of the US regarding the inability of the media to glean verifiable, independent information concerning the Gulf of Mexico disaster... more
The boss of the Crown Estate gets a grilling as a Treasury Select Committee forces him to defend accusations that the Queen’s property portfolio is not acting in Britain’s best interests... more
So the Treasury Select Committee is to launch an investigation into unequal opportunities and sexism in the City? That will be an investigation then by a committee of MPs made up of just one woman and 13 white blokes... more
Please sir, in my next life can I be John McFall or, failing that, a member of his Treasury Select Committee? The reason I ask is that it must be great fun to sit in judgment on others, to not have a clue how their industry works or where they're coming from, and then to slag them off... ... more
Analysis: The blame game over the banking crisis is in overdrive with the former heads of Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS in the dock this week... more
The bankers have been given quite a kicking for their role in the financial crisis this week. But something else became all too clear in Westminster: almost no one on the Treasury Select Committee has a clue what they are doing. ... more
Peter Chambers, who as head of the investment arm of Legal & General is one of the most influential shareholders in the country, told the Treasury Select Committee last week how difficult it was to get boards and chief executives of companies to listen to the concerns of shareholders and act upon them... more
JUST as the markets appear to be stabilising in response to the banking bail-outs, there comes a rude reminder that out in the real economy, the situation is worsening. Inflation for September on the Consumer Prices Index rose to 5.2 per cent... more
Housebuilders' shares are back on the slide after a top Bank of England official declares the current slump in building activity is even worse than in the 1990s recession... more
The financial watchdog accused City firms of turning a blind eye to market abuse and called for the introduction of plea bargaining to bolster its fight against insider trading.... more
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