Financial reform must go beyond FSA and BoE
Last week one of the biggest financial stories was George Osbourne’s effective dismantling of the FSA and returning full supervisory powers to the Bank of England.
The problem being, of course,as has been widely pointed out, no regulator across the world appears to have really seen the financial crisis coming, instead living in hope that while [...]
BP needs to recover investor confidence
The news today that BP is due to set aside $20 billion in compensation payments in a managed fund will come as welcome relief to investors, no doubt.
While it can hardly be good news for any company, even one as oil-rich, literally, as BP, at least it will help put an end to some degree [...]
Why the property market is about to fall
The UK’s property market is beginning to see the signs of a downturn finally begin to show, setting the stage for a double dip in property values.
While the DCLG reports that property inflation over the past year has reached over 10%, this has been overwhelmingly driven by easy credit rather than a return to normal [...]
Eurozone: Spain the next crisis target
Concerns about the so-called PIGS - Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain - continue to dominate the financial news as the likelihood of a second wave to the financial crisis, this time a sovereign crisis, with countries likely to default on the huge debt they carry.
Today’s news is that spreads on Spanish bonds continue to rise, with [...]
Finally setting up A1’s offices
It has been a while since I last posted due to the length of time required to set up the offices.
Finding suitable offices has proven to be a surprisingly difficult endeavour, with quite a number on the market, but few actually properly suitable because of their existing design, not least in older buildings.
However, it looks [...]