Things worth reading: 20th April 2009

April 20, 2009 by Chris Skinner

Things we're reading today include ...

Companies:
LSE to use Baikal platform to take on Europe (Financial Times)

UBS seeking to drop accounts for undeclared EU cash: report (Reuters)
Financial News: Power struggle at B. of A. Merrill Lynch (Market News)

UK:
Britain facing 'worst recession since World War II', Darling to admit in Budget (Telegraph)
'Worst of UK recession is over', says CBI (Times)
Reports say UK 'to grow in 2010' (BBC)

USA:

U.S. bank lending drops in February despite bailouts: report (Reuters)

Americas leaders urge steps to stem economic meltdown (China View)
Banks told bail-out repayments must be in US economic interest (Financial Times)

Volcker Says Fed’s Authority Probably to Be Reviewed (Bloomberg)

Industry:

Exchanges come round to multilateral approach (Financial Times)

Bankers discover that small is beautiful again (Times)

Max Clifford believes Sir Fred Goodwin's life is at risk (Financial Advice)
Eddie George: The governor unafraid to speak his mind (Times)
2008 "Worst Year" In Fortune 500 History (CBS News)

Technology:
Oracle to buy Sun for $7.4B after IBM dropped bid (Boston Herald)
Top 15 Online Banking Properties in Europe (My Techbox)

Online shopping 'soars in popularity as Brits avoid supermarket hassle' (Telegraph)
Social network sites offer a new opportunity for retailers (Times)

One headline that caught my eyes today is: "UBS sells Brazilian unit" and I wondered how much was a Brazilian? Then realised it's the country not an amount of money.

Finally, thanks to the Ridiculant for providing the laugh of the weekend by finding this version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody made from photocopiers and computer hard drives:

It's a must-hear!

The Finanser Blog is sponsored by Just Giving this week.

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Chris M Skinner

Chris Skinner is best known as an independent commentator on the financial markets through his blog, TheFinanser.com, as author of the bestselling book Digital Bank, and Chair of the European networking forum the Financial Services Club. He has been voted one of the most influential people in banking by The Financial Brand (as well as one of the best blogs), a FinTech Titan (Next Bank), one of the Fintech Leaders you need to follow (City AM, Deluxe and Jax Finance), as well as one of the Top 40 most influential people in financial technology by the Wall Street Journal's Financial News. To learn more click here...