Our biggest stories of the week are ...
How The City Developed, Part One: The Romans
In Roman Times, the centre of London was at Cornhill, where the Bank of England is based, and Leadenhall market, where Lloyd’s of London is based. At Leadenhall, the Romans built a Basilica, a combination of a town hall and law court …
How The City Developed, Part Two: The Vikings
Following on from yesterday’s post about the Romans building London, they left in 410 A.D. and the City went to rack and ruin over the following centuries as the buildings were left untended. Then, in the ninth century, the Vikings...
How The City Developed, Part Three: Medieval Times
The first proper bridge in London was built in 1176 and completed in 1209. There had been other bridges built by the Romans and Vikings, but these were always of wood and generally got burnt and pulled down. The bridge...
How The City Developed, Part Four: The Tudors
We finished Part Three of our History of the City with a nod to Sir Thomas Gresham, Banker to Queen Elizabeth I and forefather of all things in the City of London today. Thomas was the son of Sir Richard...
UK banks pay £53.4 billion in taxes
Just got a press release that I would usually ignore ... but this one's interesting. It's from Open Europe, a think tank, and say that the City not only pays over £50 billion in taxes but is in danger of being squashed by the EU ...
The London Protest #OccupyLSX is useless
I’ve been down to the #OccupyLSX, or #OLSX for short, site several times. That’s the Occupy London Stock Exchange site for those not following them on twitter. They were inspired by the #OccupyWallStreet, or #OWS folks, who began protesting back...
The major general news stories of the week include ...
Top ten banker jokes - The Telegraph
Bankers don't have much to smile about but Lloyds Banking Group has managed to have a giggle - the taxpayer-owned bank is running staff training at the Comedy School. To share the joke, here are the top ten wise-cracks about bankers:
Europe's banks have £1.5 trillion of toxic assets - The Telegraph
Europe's banks must dispose of a pool of toxic assets larger than the entire British economy if they are to return to profitability and meet new capital rules.
City in derivatives depository boost - The Telegraph
London has become home to the world's first trade repository for the £356 trillion interest rate derivatives market in a major boost for the city's place as one of the world's major financial centres.
Lloyds Banking Group laughs all the way to the bank - The Telegraph
Heard the one about a taxpayer-backed bank taking leadership lessons from The Comedy School? Nope, we hadn't either. But at Lloyds Banking Group, it seems, managers have been having a laugh.
Bank of France debts jump tenfold on capital flight - The Telegraph
The Bank of France faces surging debts to Germany's Bundesbank and fellow central banks in the EMU system as foreign investors pull large sums out of French accounts.
Citigroup plans to cut 4,500 jobs - BBC
US banking giant, Citigroup, says it is to cut 4,500 jobs around the world in an effort to reduce its costs.
Exodus: Movement of rich people - BBC
Why high-fliers increasingly live and work abroad
Billionaire behind Northern Rock - BBC
The billionaire behind the Virgin buyout of Northern Rock
This week could be the last chance to save not just the eurozone but all of Europe - The Independent
Tomorrow a week begins that could propel the eurozone towards fiscal unity, change Britain's relationship with its euro partners, and offer a potential route out of the debt crisis and renewed credit crunch which now accompanies it.
'Dismissed' partner accuses Ernst & Young of corruption - The Telegraph
Accountant Ernst & Young is facing an allegation of corruption at one of its global headquarters as part of a whistleblowing case brought by one of its ex-managing partners..
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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...
