GKN shares top FTSE 100 on Volvo deal
Fresh bid activity gave traders some relief from the travails of the banking sector and sent GKN to the top of an otherwise lacklustre FTSE 100 on Thursday. The engineering…
Wells Fargo takes lead in bank lobbying
Wells Fargo spends more on lobbying from its Washington office than any rival, paying millions of dollars to influence mortgage rules, just as the San Francisco-based lender extends its lead…
Unanswered questions on Barclays remain
It lasted more than three hours. But despite speaking fluently for most of that time, Bob Diamond’s interrogation by MPs on Wednesday left unanswered many of the questions surrounding Barclays,…
Politicians battle for economic supremacy
George Osborne’s aides are blunt: in the battle for economic supremacy with Ed Balls and Labour, it is a question of “kill or be killed”. That struggle is about to…
The worry behind Libor rates
The six weeks before the now famous October 2008 phone call between Bob Diamond, then head of Barclays Capital, and a top central banker about submissions for the Libor rate…
Osborne hits at Labour over Diamond evidence
George Osborne seized on Bob Diamond’s evidence to MPs to support his claim that Gordon Brown’s Labour government was “clearly involved” behind the scenes while Barclays was lying about its…
Dark clouds over Tucker are lifted
Dark clouds hanging over the career prospects of Paul Tucker, deputy governor of the Bank of England, lifted on Wednesday after Bob Diamond, former chief executive of Barclays, failed to…
Minority investors hold sway over Impregilo
Minority shareholders have often received a rough ride in Italy. But for the past month a select few have been afforded ample attention because they hold the deciding vote in…
Osborne under pressure on banks
George Osborne is under mounting pressure to force British banks fully to split their investment arms from retail banking operations as politicians digest the fallout from the Libor scandal that…
Choice of tie was his first mistake
The tie! The tie! That was his first mistake. It was dazzling: a lime green not unlike Maria Sharapova’s shorts at Wimbledon. He wore it on top of a blue…
Interest rate cut on the cards at ECB
Might the European Central Bank spring another July surprise on markets? While the consensus among central bank watchers is that an interest rate cut is on the cards from the…
Bob’s role fails to restore confidence
THEATRE Libor à la Mode Portcullis House Two stars out of five It has become fashionable to stage historic dramas once thought unstageable. Hence Libor à la Mode, a farce…
European banks rush in as debt door opens
Grab it while you can. Banks including Société Générale, Danske Bank and Intesa Sanpaolo have rushed to raise debt in the capital markets this week, taking advantage of the positive…
Spain opens Bankia fraud probe
Spain’s high court has opened a fraud probe into Rodrigo Rato, the former International Monetary Fund chief who was until recently chairman of Bankia, the part-nationalised lender at the forefront…
Ulster Bank payment delays to continue
Customers of Ulster bank should be prepared for significant payment delays on their accounts until at least the end of next week, following computer systems failure at Royal Bank of…