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The Finanser’s Week: 2nd August – 8th August 2010

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Our biggest stories of the week are ...

Swiss bank implements major austerity measures

Walking through the City yesterday, I stumbled across a real jamboree of people just by Liverpool Street. Really weird.  Lots of stalls selling food and loads of people queuing for what seemed like hours to get some of it. What's going on?  This is not normal.

Everyone wants to avoid double-dips and market issues, we want to talk
up the economy and feel good, we want our glasses half-full and capital
secure. And after this week’s bank results, you could be forgiven
for thinking everything was back to normal.  But it's not as
I’ve got a little bit of worry as we read the signs in the
tea-leaves of economists and financiers. Those signs make it sound like
times ahead aren’t quite so good.

Monthly MiFID MTF Monitor: July 2010

We are pleased to provide our seventh month of monitoring the MTF
performances in
European Equities trading, in partnership with Thomson Reuters Equity Market Share Reporter (EMSR). 

How American reforms affect Capital Markets

American reform, the Dodd-Frank legislation, has a good chance of
meaningfully impacting the financial markets by enhancing oversight,
reducing systemic risk, and improving consumer protection, but what does
it really mean for brokers and dealers?

BBVA: Bank 2.0 minus 1

I blogged a while ago about the discovery of BBVA's wonderful Tu
Cuentas (You Count!) service.  The reason I loved it, is that it is
the first bank to really push the boundaries of mobile internet with
customisable budgeting tools and alerts, but they also have a problem.

The Girl Who Messed Up The Bank

We've been lucky enough to receive the outline opening pages of the
fourth instalment of the Millennium series books about Lisbeth Salander,
the Girl with the Dragon Tatto.  The excitement of the first three
books might be waning as he's decided to write this as a stage play by
the look of it.  We know this because handwritten next to the
opening paragraph is a note to say that the characters of Holger
Palmgren (Lisbeth's guardian), Dr Peter Teleborian (her psychiatrist)
and Lisbeth Salander are to be played by David Cameron, Gordon Brown and
Northern Rock respectively  ...

After the PSD and SEPA, has anything changed?

Last year, we performed a major survey in anticipation of the
implementation of the PSD and SEPA Direct Debits, to see how the world
viewed these areas.This year, we're doing it again.  Click here to take survey

FSClub CEE meeting: Redefining the Client Relationship

The next meeting of the Financial Services Club, Central and
Eastern Europe (FSClub CEE), will be on Tuesday 7th September 2010 at
the residence of the British Ambassador, Metternichgasse 6, Vienna,
Austria.

The major general news stories of the week include ...

'Thousands' targeted in bank scam - BBC

Researchers uncover a network of thousands of PCs that is being used to harvest online banking details in the UK.

UK banks 'weren't bust at all' - BBC

Economist Professor Tim Congdon says the UK's banks "were not bust at all" in 2008 and did not need government capital injections

HSBC sets the 'safe bank' benchmark - The Telegraph

Britain's biggest bank may have doubled profits, but of more importance is its growing status as the benchmark 'safe bank'.

HSBC would be right to ditch UK headquarters if reformers get it wrong - The Telegraph

HSBC's half yearly results confirm the very Asian look to global recovery with Michael Geoghegan, the group's chief executive, leaving the world in no doubt as to where he is placing the bank's bets.

Banking system on verge of new crisis, hedge fund Noster Capital warns - The Telegraph

The banking system could be on the brink of another crisis, according to one hedge fund manager who has taken a series of short positions against some of Europe's largest financial institutions.

Bailed-out bank chiefs on course for multi-million pound bonuses - The Telegraph

The chief executives of banks which received billions of pounds in taxpayer bail-outs are in line to collect multi-million bonuses after a dramatic turnaround in their fortunes.

New UBS HQ to be City's largest building - Financial Times

The City of London's largest office building is to house the new European headquarters of UBS after it agreed a deal to remain on the Broadgate estate

Goldman Sachs faces public anger over plan to replace shops with designer restaurants near HQ - The Telegraph

For a bank that served up $16.1bn (£10.2bn) in pay and bonuses last year, it is not surprising that Goldman Sachs likes the finer things in life.

Fred Goodwin's treatment has 'echoes of Nazi Germany' - The Telegraph

One of Scotland's most senior financiers has compared the public vilification of Sir Fred Goodwin after the banking collapse with the persecution of the Jews in Nazi Germany.


 

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Chris Skinner Author Avatar

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...

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