By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: 7 June 2015 George Osborne’s plan to sell the government’s 80 per cent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland, the expected highlight of this week’s Mansion House speech, looks set to fall short of Treasury expectations as leading investors baulk at buying shares in the state-rescued bank. Sources […]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: 29 March 2015 Note: This is an unedited version of the article that was published in the Sunday Herald on 29 March 2015. This draft dates from 20 March 2015. The published version is available here. The Royal Bank of Scotland has been rapped over the knuckles by a […]
By: Ian Fraser Published: Financial Times Date: 15 March 2015 Automation and computerisation are creating “a brave new world” for the asset management market, says the chief executive of the world’s largest listed hedge fund group. Man Group’s Emmanuel “Manny” Roman told delegates at the National Association of Pension Funds investment conference in Edinburgh he finds […]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: 21 December 2014 [Note this the unedited version of a business focus article published in the Sunday Herald on 21 December 2014] Banks including the Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group have found a new way of freshening up their balance sheets and ridding themselves of business customers […]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: 16 November 2014 An Inverness-based financial technology (fintech) company that aims to take the global smartphone payment apps market by storm has purged its board of four well-connected Highland businessmen as it seeks to raise £3 million to accelerate its growth. Comcarde, founded in January by Jim Goodman, […]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Daily Telegraph Date: 6 November 2014 SMEs are calling on the government to take a more enlightened approach to immigration policy, warning the current approach is blocking access to talent, hobbling growth prospects and jeopardising the recovery. In a 2010 pre-election announcement, the then opposition leader David Cameron set a target of reducing […]
By Ian Fraser Published: Business Quarter (BQ) Date: 13 October 2014 At a dinner to mark the departure of chief executive Stephen Hester in September 2013, the Royal Bank of Scotland’s finance director Bruce van Saun gave Hester’s anointed heir, Ross McEwan, an unusual present. Hester, a keen horseman, had been the bank’s chief executive […]
By Ian Fraser Published: Sunday Herald Date: 12 October 2014 Several hundred businesses that claim to have suffered at the hands of Royal Bank of Scotland’s “turnaround” division have appointed US law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to represent them in a planned case against the bank. The RBS GRG Business Action Group members […]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Daily Telegraph Date: 3 October 2014 The outcome of the referendum has brought certainty to Scotland’s economy, but what are the long-term consequences of the ‘No’ vote? Most Scottish businesses breathed a sigh relief when it became clear the Scottish electorate had rejected independence by 55 per cent to 45 per […]
By Ian Fraser Published: The Times Date: 29 September 2014 Small businesses, MPs and campaigners are calling for an inquiry into the Financial Conduct Authority’s handling of banks’ mis-selling of complex financial products to small businesses. Guto Bebb, a Conservative MP and chairman of an all-party parliamentary group on the issue, said: “There is no […]