The UK Banking Bill received Royal Assent to pass into Law on 12th February, and comes into force this weekend. The Banking Act 2009 can be downloaded or read online and in full. The Act has been rushed through to cover the need to nationalise stabilise the UK banks, and has specific provisions that ensure…
The UK's Office for National Statistics is now estimating the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group combined losses will cost between £1 to £1.5 trillion in additional public debt. That's the equivalent of 70% to 100% of the UK's GDP. They've also been reclassified as "public" institutions, which means that all of their…
The UK's Office for National Statistics is now estimating the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group combined losses will cost between £1 to £1.5 trillion in additional public debt. That's the equivalent of 70% to 100% of the UK's GDP. They've also been reclassified as "public" institutions, which means that all of their…
There's been a distinct lack of outspoken bankers talking about this crisis. Most seem to be hiding under the lights of their own bushel. But no. There is one brave banker out there, willing to stand up and be counted. And no. It's not Jamie Dimon! It's US Bancorp's CEO Richard Davis. Speaking at a…
There's been a distinct lack of outspoken bankers talking about this crisis. Most seem to be hiding under the lights of their own bushel. But no. There is one brave banker out there, willing to stand up and be counted. And no. It's not Jamie Dimon! It's US Bancorp's CEO Richard Davis. Speaking at a…
I chaired a dinner on compliance last night, with eight risk and compliance professionals from a range of international and global banks. Without any particular science to this, I noted key words used throughout the evening and came up with a word cloud that looks a bit like this: What this demonstrated is that there…
I chaired a dinner on compliance last night, with eight risk and compliance professionals from a range of international and global banks. Without any particular science to this, I noted key words used throughout the evening and came up with a word cloud that looks a bit like this: What this demonstrated is that there…
The UK government has just published a document titled 'The Road to the London Summit'. This represents Gordon Brown's plan for getting the global economy back on track through a new global deal. The report sets out the 'Global Deal' – a package of internationally coordinated measures to restore stability in the financial systems, and set a…
The UK government has just published a document titled 'The Road to the London Summit'. This represents Gordon Brown's plan for getting the global economy back on track through a new global deal. The report sets out the 'Global Deal' – a package of internationally coordinated measures to restore stability in the financial systems, and set a…
A couple of weeks ago, I blogged about Germany's Black Swan Banks. Now, Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to change German law to seize private property back, for the first time since the War, in order to fully nationalise Hypo Real Estate (HRE). According to the German newspaper Weld, "the German government has agonised over…
