By Ian Fraser The Herald April 30th, 2007 DEFENSIVE: Frank Blin at PwC argues that competition in the audit market is strong enough already. THE Financial Reporting Council must act fast to ensure the UK audit market is opened up to non-Big Four players, according to Neil Craig, Scottish managing partner of BDO Stoy Hayward. […]
By Ian Fraser and James Ashton Published: Daily Mail Date: April 26th, 2007 ROYAL Bank of Scotland threw down the gauntlet to Barclays, offering to trump its agreed £45bn takeover of Dutch bank ABN Amro with its own £49bn break-up bid. Setting the scene for a classic City battle, RBS boss Sir Fred Goodwin, flanked […]
By Ian Fraser Financial Times FTfm section April 23rd, 2007 Distribution: The web-based platforms will have wide repercussions for the financial services industry, writes Ian Fraser Wraps, already well-established in overseas markets such as Australasia, remain in their infancy in the UK market. But industry insiders believe that, as they become more widely adopted, they […]
By Ian Fraser The Sunday Times April 22nd, 2007 THE founder of one of Scotland’s leading recruitment companies has added his voice to business calls for Scottish independence, writes Ian Fraser. Adrian Brady, of Escape Recruitment, is disenchanted with the Labour-led executive and says he is a “very recent convert to Scottish nationalism”. Brady’s conversion […]
By Ian Fraser Sunday Herald April 22nd, 2007 Sir Fred Goodwin’s plan to dismember the Dutch banking giant ABN Amro is one of his most intriguing takeover moves yet. Can he make the three-way split work? THE plot for the wooing of what has been described as the “Ugly Betty” of European finance was hatched […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald April 16th, 2007 THE lack of lawyers on the boards of public companies is depriving corporate Britain of the opportunity to benefit from the profession’s sharp intelligence, according to Bill Knight, chairman of the Financial Reporting Review Panel. “I believe a certain amount of time spent by senior practicing solicitors […]
By Ian Fraser The Estate Agency Times April 16th, 2007 Economist claims that lack of supply could render UK immune to a bust. VOICES predicting a housing market crash – or at the very least a “slowdown” or a “softening” of the market – have reached a crescendo recent weeks, with one of the more […]
By Ian Fraser Financial Times FTfm section April 9th, 2007 The future is bright for Colin McLean, SVM Asset Management chief, despite the loss of top personnel and a drop in AUM. Ian Fraser reports Colin McLean was once the “enfant terrible” of Scottish finance. In the 1990s, he caused consternation among members of the […]
By Ian Fraser The Herald April 9th, 2007 ICAS fights corner for future of global accountancy standards TAKING STOCK: Critics of a rules-based system say onerous reporting requirements can drive companies away from US exchanges such as New York. THE Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland last week took the fight over the future of […]
By Ian Fraser The Sunday Times April 8th, 2007 Rocketing sales in the Far East are changing the face of the whisky market and encouraging firms to invest in new distilleries, reports Ian Fraser When Ian Macleod Distillers launches its latest Scotch whisky brand in China next month, 75,000 people are expected to congregate in […]