FT.com / UK – FSA on defensive over Lehman failings. Good to know I got yesterday’s musings on Lehamn right. As the FT reports: UK financial regulators said they had no reason to question the so-called “accounting gimmick” used by Lehman Brothers to flatter its results because the investment bank’s UK subsidiary’s reports accurately reflected
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My latest column in Forbes is here, looking at the issue of EU hedge fund regulation. As I argue: Like it or not international finance needs rules and they need to be consistent. Creating competitive advantage by manipulating the rules does not mean there are winners or losers as a consequence – it means there
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FT.com / UK – Watchdogs need not bark together. Joe Stiglitz in the FT says: Countries that proceed [to protect their own citizens with strong domestic regulation] will face threats of the kind already received – a rapid departure offshore. But the parts of the financial system critical to the real economy – those, for
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FT.com / UK – Sants resignation leaves confusion at FSA. Hector Sants has resigned as chief executive of the Financial Services Authority, sowing confusion about the direction of financial regulation. The CEO, who will stay at the FSA until the summer, has been outspoken in his criticism of Conservative proposals to dismantle the agency. He
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FT.com / Europe – Portugal near political crisis over debt . Portugal is facing a debt crisis. Whether justified or not I do not know: I am not an expert on Portugal and won’t claim to be. But the follwoing is reported: He [the Prime Minister] said Portugal had taken over from Greece as the
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The Guardian has noted: The Dubai government refused to guarantee the huge debts built up by its conglomerate Dubai World, dashing investor hopes that the latest episode in the global financial crisis might be swiftly resolved. In an interview on local television, the director general of Dubai’s department of finance, Abdulrahman al-Saleh, appeared to suggest
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The Walker report on corporate governance in UK banks and other financial industry entities includes the most extraordinary missed opportunity. On page 17 it has the following enigmatic paragraph: Recommendation 15 Deleted. What might it have said? What opportunity has been missed? Could it have said: All banks shall be tax compliant: tax compliance is
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The world of banking has won two more victories over the rest of society. The challenge to its right to charge excessive fees to people who make the smallest error in running their bank accounts has been overthrown by the new supreme court. This is regressive tax in all but name: it is now the
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The Telegraph has done a  rather useful summary of highlights from last night’s speech by Mervyn King, Bank of England governor. he said: On support given to the banking system: In the UK, in the form of direct or guaranteed loans and equity investment, it is not far short of a trillion (that is, one
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