The Edge

Richard Northedge takes on corporate finance

Archive for the ‘Bailout’ category

Economic prudence is better than a European rescue fund

The time to set up a rescue fund is during the fat years, not the thin years when they are needed. That’s why it is sensible to think of such funds now: by the time the wrangling over their format is finalised we may again have the financial fat to fill them ready for the next thin period.
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Volcker to tell UK MPs to split the banks

President Obama’s call to make banks shed risky trading – effectively a new Glass-Steagall Act – is not off the UK agenda, despite being dismissed by government ministers. The architect of the plan, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, is coming to the House of Commons to outline his plan.
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Quantitative easing: Counting the cost

The government’s losses from Black Wednesday are legion, but already quantitative easing has cost us more than that doomed attempt to save sterling in 1992. The QE losses have reached £8bn and the Bank of England hasn’t yet started to unwind the programme.
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The real answer to the bonus question

If a 50 per cent tax on bonuses is not enough to stop bankers boosting their own pay, what does it take?
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Burj Khalifa: Why tall towers are always too late

What better monument to financial folly than the tower opened in Dubai at the start of 2010?
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Rising property values could bail out the banks

Commercial property values are rising again and no-one should be more pleased than the owners of Britain’s banks – ie, us. Balance sheet write-offs could soon be replaced by write-backs.
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Make banks back bonuses with new capital

Let the banks pay their inflated bonuses – but force them to back each £1bn awarded with another £1bn of new capital. It could be a better brake on bonuses than a windfall tax on the banks or higher income tax for the bankers.
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Why reveal RBS, HBOS secret at all?

Nevermind that the Bank of England kept secret for a year its massive loan to HBoS and RBS (LON:RBS), why on earth did it choose to break its silence on the day Lloyds Banking Group (LON:LLOY) announces its record rights issue?
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When is a bank small enough to fail?

If banks shouldn’t be “too big to fail” how small must they be before we allow them to collapse? It’s the question the Bank of England’s governor must answer.
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The windfall banks tax is gaining support

“Is it time for a new windfall tax on banks?” asked this blog back in the summer. It seems so. The Westminster press briefing is that the chancellor is considering a banks tax in his pre-budget statement.
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