Banks will have to face up to a future of lower profits but lower risks if regulators are to prevent another global banking crisis, FSA head Lord Turner tells MPs ... more
City Comment: The over-the-counter markets are back in the spotlight with the news that Goldman Sachs used them for currency swaps which helped the Greek government understate just how deep in debt it really was... more
City Comment: Published today is this year’s “Banking banana skins” — an annual survey of things likely to trip up unwary bankers. Inevitably political interference gets a big space, the industry thinks of little else... more
City Comment: It's inexplicable: although banking claims to employ the cleverest people in the world and pays them accordingly, at no point have its leaders taken any responsibility for reform... more
City Comment: When Mervyn King, appeared before the Lords in November, he focused his remarks on what he said were the two biggest issues of the financial crisis: "Too big to fail" banks and reform of the world monetary system... more
City Comment: The City of London has prospered considerably down the years from its willingness to allow what is illegal elsewhere, and in particular when the laws that are being skirted round are those of the United States... more
What does Paul Volcker, the man who has done more than anyone in modern history to design and deliver sound regulation to international banking, think is good about today’s banks? ... more
How many truly brilliant people do you know? I mean brilliant, not just clever-clever. Extrapolating from that number - which is probably no higher than zero, and is certainly lower than three - how many truly brilliant people are there in the whole world?... more
The roots of the financial crisis lie not in the greed and excess of a handful of the world’s bankers, nor in their reward systems or penchant for innovation... more
Trade unions could not believe it when 30 years ago Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher said she would no longer listen to them, give them privileges or allow them a special place in the economic order
... more
Barack Obama attempted to play down expectations that he could provide an instant fix to America's economic problems as he said: "I'm not a miracle worker."... more
Robert Gates will continue as American defence secretary under Barack Obama as the president-elect prepares to bolster troops in Afghanistan and oversee a withdrawal from Iraq... more
Economics: The odds on Tim Geithner becoming the next US Treasury Secretary have shortened after a key Barack Obama adviser said he would be a "superb" candidate... more
The stag is here and we're not talking about a noble beast. This one, stagflation, is decidedly ugly - a nightmarish combination of inflation and economic slowdown... more
Sofia Coppola's boyfriend is lead singer and they won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album this year. Now, Phoenix tell Nosheen Iqbal, they are set to conquer London
Move over, Mahiki. Nightclub entrepreneurs Charlie Gilkes and Duncan Stirling are soon to launch a new Eighties-inspired club in Chelsea, in honour of Lady Thatcher
Afternoon:
13°c
