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After yesterday’s blog about the state of the markets and the concluding line: "When you see a way of making money with no risks, you see the fool’s gold", I guess the obvious question is: Why didn’t the banks see the fool’s gold?  After all, these are institutions that go back over five centuries, with…

After yesterday’s blog about the state of the markets and the concluding line: "When you see a way of making money with no risks, you see the fool’s gold", I guess the obvious question is: Why didn’t the banks see the fool’s gold?  After all, these are institutions that go back over five centuries, with…

Some totally obvious comments are coming out in the media today. Take the UK’s new Chancellor of the Exchequer (the old one got promoted to Prime Minister) Alistair Darling who is headlined today as saying that banks “need to know who they’re lending to, how much they’re lending and what the risk is. Now, that’s elementary…

During the weekend, there were lots of reports on the attack by Eric Knight on HSBC’s governance and strategy.  Eric Knight, who is CEO of Knight Vinke Asset Management, is airing his concerns in public, he claims, as a result of the FSA’s Market Watch (six page pdf) of May 2007 which focused upon shareholder…

During the weekend, there were lots of reports on the attack by Eric Knight on HSBC’s governance and strategy.  Eric Knight, who is CEO of Knight Vinke Asset Management, is airing his concerns in public, he claims, as a result of the FSA’s Market Watch (six page pdf) of May 2007 which focused upon shareholder…

During the weekend, there were lots of reports on the attack by Eric Knight on HSBC’s governance and strategy.  Eric Knight, who is CEO of Knight Vinke Asset Management, is airing his concerns in public, he claims, as a result of the FSA’s Market Watch (six page pdf) of May 2007 which focused upon shareholder…

This is not a new news story, but it is a news story.  Banking is a man's world.   Sounds a bit sexist doesn't it, but many of us would say that there is still active discrimination in some business sectors on the grounds of age, sex, ethnicity, religion and physical attributes.  Maybe it's human…

    The knock-on effect of the American sub-prime crisis goes on and on. According to reports from Data Monitor, it now hits the Indian outsourcing sector. This is because firms such as First Magnus closing their doors to business and filing for bankruptcy then rolls on to impact their BPO partners, such as WNS,…

    The knock-on effect of the American sub-prime crisis goes on and on. According to reports from Data Monitor, it now hits the Indian outsourcing sector. This is because firms such as First Magnus closing their doors to business and filing for bankruptcy then rolls on to impact their BPO partners, such as WNS,…

I popped into the British Banker’s Association (BBA) last week and found that they publish a nice long list of statistics about our industry so, in yet another in the numbers series, here’s the low-down on the UK banking sector.  At the end of 2006, there were: over 325 banks in the UK; 161 UK…