June 28th, 2009 Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC, recently had lunch with Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, in the Pont de la Tour restaurant overlooking the Thames — and Barber has written an account of the repast in the Weekend FT. Green, who was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1988, comes over [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 28th, 2009 A9 road at Drumochter © Copyright Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence. The Mid Scotland and Fife MSP Murdo Fraser has been loudly banging the drum for the government to push ahead with a £4 billion upgrade of the [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 28th, 2009 A Scottish start-up founded at the height of the credit crunch has grown to employing 18 people, with sites in Edinburgh and Montreal, and secured £500,000 funding in just nine months Gary Davis, 29, launched the climate change consultancy Ecometrica in September 2008, just [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 28th, 2009 Claims of unfair dealing have been made by a rebel actuarial group over plans to merge the Scottish and English institutes A bitter row has erupted over the future of the actuarial profession ahead of a meeting in Edinburgh tomorrow at which rebel actuaries [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 28th, 2009 The climate change bill will boost many industries but not everyone is as happy as Arnold Schwarzenner, writes Ian Fraser It is not every day that “the Governator” heaps praise on something Scotland does. But last week Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, eulogised [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 21st, 2009 Last autumn, it was clear that something had to be done. After years of flawed thinking, reckless lending and hubristic empire-building, banks including RBS and HBOS had brought themselves to the brink of collapse. In the event, Gordon Brown, the prime minister, decided the [...]
By Ian Fraser and Julia Belgutay Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 21st, 2009 When Louise McPhillimy was accepted by Glasgow University to study law, she believed her career path was laid out before her. She would graduate with a good degree, gain a diploma in legal practice, then begin a traineeship with one of [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 21, 2009 Norman Bone urges Scottish Enterprise to recognise economic potential of defence and aerospace industries Norman Bone, senior vice-president at Edinburgh-based Selex Galileo has called on the government of Alex Salmond to include the aerospace and defence sector as one of its priorities for future [...]
June 14th, 2009 Kilmartin’s development for Radisson, which opened as Hotel Missoni in June 2009; image courtesy of Picturerama – A visual blog LLOYDS BANKING GROUP is seeking a radical restructuring of one of Scotland’s largest property developers, Kilmartin Holdings amid fears the group may plunge into administration. Bank of Scotland has lent a total [...]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Sunday Times Date: June 14th, 2009 It’s not what you know, it’s who you know that makes all the difference in the discombobulated world of post-crash finance. Sir George Mathewson, the nationalist-leaning former bank chairman, lost millions when his RBS stake was wiped out following the bank’s disastrous takeover of [...]