By Paul Hutcheon and Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: November 29th, 2008 MPs demand answers over role of consultant and actions of sacked Bank of Scotland executive Investigation by Paul Hutcheon and Ian Fraser HALIFAX Bank of Scotland (HBOS) is refusing to explain why it used two businessmen with a history of misappropriating company funds to offer financial [...]
November 29th, 2008 The chorus of former HBOS insiders who claim they warned the bank that it had set its course on a path towards self-destruction in the period 2003-07 is reaching a crescendo. Already, Paul Moore, the bank’s former head of regulatory risk, has accused his ex-employers of throwing caution to the wind in [...]
November 22nd, 2008 Blingopolis sure knows how to throw a party. Earlier this week, the South African tycoon Sol Kerzner sought to put his new, 1,500 room Atlantis Hotel on the map with a $22 million star-studded extravaganza. Given the reams of media coverage this extraordinary event has generated, he seems to have largely succeeded. [...]
November 16th, 2008 It appears that Sir George Mathewson doesn’t think too highly of the BBC’s business editor Robert Peston, who was so splendidly lampooned on Silly Money, tonight’s Bremner Bird And Fortune programme. In an interview by Gillian Bowditch in today’s Sunday Times, Sir George said: “I think it is disgraceful that everything the [...]
November 16th, 2008 John Varley’s desire to ring-fence high pay levels at Barclays, where he is chief executive, seems to have been his main motivation for steering clear of UK taxpayer-funded bailout last month. Varley last month effectively snubbed UK prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Alistair Darling. He rejected their largesse, niftily side-stepped possible [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: November 16th, 2008 SCOTLAND’S ECONOMY is less exposed to the increasingly toxic financial services sector and has proportionately lower bank bailout costs than the rest of the UK, according to a leading academic specialising in fiscal matters. Andrew Hughes Hallett, professor of economics and public policy at George [...]
November 14th, 2008 Dubai’s financial woes intensified today after it emerged that its stock exchange is going to have refinance its massive $4.2 billion debt pile at penal rates of interest. Borse Dubai is reportedly having to refinance the debt it took on to finance its acquisition of the Nordic exchanges operator OMX at rates [...]
November 13th, 2008 While I can’t really see many asset managers abseiling down buildings to make a public display like these Greenpeace activists, they can potentially be even more influential behind the scenes. After all they are the owners of quoted companies like Kleenex, not just an irritating flee on their hide. However, according a [...]
November 12th, 2008 It would appear that trade unions in the UK no longer given a damn about preserving their own members’ jobs. Yesterday the Unite trade union (formerly known as Amicus) which is supposed to represent the interests of bank and financial services staff, “slammed” attempts by the leading Scottish bankers’ Sir George Mathewson [...]
By Ian Fraser and Michael Tait Published: The Mail on Sunday Date: November 9th, 2008 Top bankers launch amazing boardroom coup TWO of Scotland’s most prominent bankers yesterday launched an audacious coup to take control of troubled HBOS. Sir Peter Burt and Sir George Mathewson have demanded the resignation of HBOS chairman Lord Dennis Stevenson. [...]