The Finanser’s Week: 25th February – 3rd March 2013

Our biggest stories of the past week are ...

Europe needs confidence and trust, but not Berlusconi

I was asked to chair
a debate about whether the Eurozone crisis was behind us last week, as per
President Francois Hollande’s recent comments: “The euro crisis, I've said it
before, is behind us. We've given Greece the funds it...

Talking about Berlusconi, who's the richest politician in
the world?

Having blogged
previously about who is the richest royal (and it’s not our good old Queenie),
I noted that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was blowing over $150 million a
year on his lavish lifestyle at the time. Strange then that...

Mobile’s time has come

It’s the Mobile
World Congress week this week, so everyone’s talking about mobile. In our
space, the big announcements came from MasterCard and Visa. MasterCard launched
a digital wallet in a joint venture with mFoundry, whilst Visa announced an
NFC...

The latest stats on Bitcoin

I’ve written a lot
about Bitcoin over the last year: Is Bitcoin the future of money … or are we
smoking dope? (October 2011) Bitcoin: immersive or subversive? (January 2012)
You should take Bitcoin seriously (September 2012) A new currency...

Launch of the Financial Services Club Poland: 17th April
2013

As many of you know,
we have a vibrant Club community that has been running in various countries for
a while now. The London Club for England meets around three times a month,
whilst our other constituencies meet once every...

 

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

Co-op's
£1bn hole could derail Lloyds deal - The Telegraph
The Co-operative Bank is facing a capital shortfall of up to £1bn, threatening
to disrupt its plans to buy 600-plus branches from state-backed Lloyds Banking
Group.

Rule
on bank capital was a 50-year giant mistake, says Lord Turner - The
Independent
Lord Turner, the outgoing chairman of the Financial Services Authority, has
declared that the amount of capital banks were required to hold before the 2008
financial crisis had been a "50-year giant mistake".

Banker
labelled 'crazy miss cokehead' after whistleblowing, tribunal hears - The
Telegraph
A banker was falsely labelled "crazy miss cokehead" during a vicious
campaign of harassment after she blew the whistle on insider dealing, a
tribunal heard yesterday.

EU
agrees to cap bankers' bonuses - The Independent
European Union chiefs have agreed a package of financial laws that includes
capping bankers' bonuses at a maximum of one year's basic salary.

Barclays
to reveal that it employs more than 600 millionaires - The Independent
They are Barclays' fortunate few –the 600 millionaires at the very top of its
pay scales.

MasterCard
moves into mobile payments - Financial Times
Credit card company is to offer digital wallet and online checkout in an
attempt to capitalise on the explosion in retail apps on mobile devices

Warning
about student 'money mules' - BBC
Fraud experts are warning that hundreds of thousands of people are in danger of
being duped into laundering money for fraudsters.

Markets
set for sterling sell-off after AAA setback for Britain - The
Independent
Sterling was braced for a further sell-off today as financial markets geared up
to respond to the decision of a major credit agency to strip the UK of its
gold-plated rating.

Does
it matter that the UK has been stripped of its AAA credit rating? - The
Telegraph
So, does it matter that the UK has lost its much-prized AAA credit rating?

RBS
to offload US banking business - The Independent
The Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to cave in to the demands of its
regulator and outline plans to put its American retail arm, Citizens, on the
market next week.

 

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