By Ian Fraser Published: The Arts Journal Date: May 29th, 2012 Sandy Richardson was trying to raise £12.6 million towards the £46m cost of refurbishing the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh’s Chambers Street when he was stopped in his tracks. The financial crisis came pretty much out of the blue and several large banks including […]
May 23rd, 2012 Baroness Hogg, chairman of the Financial Reporting Council, Peter Montagnon, senior investment adviser at the FRC and Sir David Walker, senior adviser, Morgan Stanley (who are in deep doo doo over their handling of the Facebook IPO) appeared before the Treasury Select Committee in the Thatcher Room earlier today. I haven’t watched […]
May 21st, 2012 Glad to see our Chinese friends are getting such a balanced view of Europe. This three and half minute commercial for the UEFA Euro 2012 official Chinese broadcaster Now TV has it all: images of the Blitz; Stalingrad; Warsaw; the siege of Berlin, an earthquake in the middle of the pitch. And for […]
By Rowan Bosworth-Davies White-collar crime, and particularly fraud and wrong-doing in the City of London, has been ignored by regulators and the judiciary for too long. The global financial crisis has highlighted how, if left unchecked it can cause almost incalculable damage to ordinary people’s lives and the wider economy. The biggest disincentive to City […]
May 16th, 2012 (Minor edits to final para, January 25th 2014) The Financial Services Authority today imposed a lifetime ban on Anthony Verrier, a senior executive at interdealer brokers BGC Partners, who two years ago was described by a judge as a liar with an extraordinary proclivity for “losing” Blackberries and mobile phones. On March 18th, […]
By Brett Scott May 15th, 2012 (edited May 16th, 2012) The greatest barriers to financial whistleblowing are social and economic, not legal. Fear of being shunned by colleagues, passed over for promotion, bullied and harrassed, summarily dismissed and even shut out of Wall Street or the City for life plays a big part in dissuading […]
Editorial note: June 22nd, 2012 A revised and updated version of this blog is now available via the following link:- The Worst Bank in the World? HBOS’s Calamitous Seven Year Life
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: May 13th, 2012 HUNDREDS of property firms could be pushed into bankruptcy if the Financial Services Authority pushes ahead with a new “slotting” regime that will force banks to be more transparent about the state of their commercial property loan books, according to property industry leaders. Banking and property […]
May 8th, 2012 Bill Miller, chairman of Miller Industries, a tow truck manufacturer based in Ooltewah, Tennessee, has today scrapped plans to buy Scottish football club Rangers F.C.. News that Miller was withdrawing his £11.2 million offer for the beleaguered Glasgow club came as no surprise to me, given that (reportedly) he has not previously […]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: May 6th, 2012 It was supposed to be Scotland’s safe bank. What went wrong? By Ian Fraser Call it Cameron Clyne’s ‘Derby’ moment. At a council of war in that East Midlands city in 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie had to concede that weak generalship, poor logistics and […]