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’UK rules out bank bonus windfall-tax
UK banks that pay out excessive bonuses will be hit with heavy capital penalties rather than a windfall tax, officials said on Monday, in an attempt to allay City fears that Labour is planning a big pre-election cash grab.
UK appoints ‘enforcer’ for bank scheme
UK Treasurer Alistair Darling will on Friday appoint a Treasury “enforcer” to oversee the biggest and perhaps riskiest deal the government has signed: the £585bn toxic asset insurance scheme. Stephan Wilcke,
UK to force ‘living wills’ on banks’
UK chancellor Alistair Darling is planning legislation this autumn to force British banks to draw up “living wills” so that they can be dismantled more easily in any future financial crisis. The proposal to set a timetable for banks to simplify their corporate structures and plan for dissolution will be included in a financial services bill in the Queen’s speech in November.
UK banks face curbs on stakes in lenders
UK banks will be barred from buying the nationalised lender Northern Rock or taxpayer’s stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and RBS if they have big existing operations in the UK, chancellor Alistair Darling signalled on Thursday night.
Darling threatens UK banks on loans
The UK government has warned banks to increase the supply of affordable loans to businesses or face the threat of a competition probe if evidence of market failure emerges. Alistair Darling, chancellor,
Darling’s banking reforms attacked
Alistair Darling’s blueprint for reforming the financial regulatory regime on Wednesday failed to impress the City and drew withering fire from the Conservatives, who vowed to reverse the report’s main proposals should the party win the next election,
Tabulating financial reform, Darling
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s proposals for financial reform is now available online. A summary:
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Darling outlines tougher bank regulation – FT
Darling to crack down on riskiest banks
Alistair Darling will outline a tough regulatory regime for the financial services industry on Wednesday that would impose heavier capital and liquidity standards on banks that pose the greatest risk to the financial system.
UK banking act to boost FSA’s role
UK chancellor Alistair Darling is planning a new Banking Act this year to strengthen the role of the Financial Services Authority, in an unexpected move that follows criticism of the Bank of England’s failure to warn of the impending banking crisis.
UK’s Darling to warn of crackdown
Alistair Darling, UK chancellor, will on Wednesday night warn the City to expect further regulation and a crackdown on sloppy boardroom practices. In his annual Mansion House speech, Darling will deliver a warning shot to those,
Bearing the Brownt – Day II
No false news shock resignation rumours on Friday morning – in fact the opposite. It looks like the prime minister is going to bring forward the Cabinet reshuffle in a desperate attempt to shore up his position,
Financial figures through Google goggles
Guido Fawkes has alerted us to the fun to be had with the new predictive function on Google searches.
While most of them reveal a worrying anti-semitic streak (even in the case of Allen Stanford, who by all accounts is a rather fervent Christian) and an obsession with public figures’ wives,
UK’s Darling gambles on growth
UK chancellor Alistair Darling on Wednesday gambled on a rapid economic recovery and deep spending cuts to regain control of public finances ravaged by the global financial crisis. In an austere Budget that raised taxes on the rich and nearly halved planned spending growth,
UK, the economic iconoclast
No surprise this, but Britain looks set to be locked out of the Euro club by official Maastricht criteria. From the FT:
Alistair Darling on Wednesday unveiled plans to tax the rich and rein in public spending as he confirmed a huge increase in borrowing to restore the public finances,
Budget: Gilt market reaction
A bit of a mixed reaction in the UK government bond market to the budget.
Midday, as the chancellor’s budget speech began, gilt prices rose seemingly in unison, but gains were swiftly reversed barely half an our later.
HMT wakes up to smell the coffee
Time to reprise RBC’s chart of 2009 GDP estimates as published on FT Alphaville last Friday — the original and as well as an amended version to account for Chancellor Alistair Darling’s stunning reversal on the matter of UK growth in 2009 following his presentation of the Budget.
IMF and Table 1.8 gate
There was a predictable media flurry on Tuesday night as the IMF mysteriously backtracked on its £200bn estimate on the cost of bailing out the UK’s banks, as quoted earlier in its Global Financial Stability Report.
Make yer budget bets
UK budget-related bets tend to trend towards the financial. GBP may will fall. UK CDS will tighten widen etc.
There are other ways to go though. Spread betting firm Sporting Index is offering odds on the following aspects of UK chancellor Alistair Darling’s speech:
What Darling has to play with
Only one of these UK tax growth rates is still in positive territory, according to UBS.
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Darling to admit £60bn bail-out bill – FT
DarlingTube
He’s had a haircut, he’s looking stressed, (he’s probably a bit narked with Ed Balls, who’s apparently been briefing against him – and cabinet colleagues – for months) but here he is anyway, with a cheeky pre-budget YouTube clip on preparations for Wednesday’s budget:
Darling to admit £60bn bail-out bill
UK chancellor Alistair Darling will concede for the first time that the government will not recoup the full costs of its banking interventions and that the bill could be as high as £60bn. Following the US example,
Time to smell the coffee over at HMT
It’s budget time for the UK on Wednesday April 22. And as can be expected most economists are predicting nothing but bad news on the state of the UK’s public finances.
Among the key questions economists are asking:
Darling set to admit forecast error
Alistair Darling on Sunday prepared to acknowledge the biggest forecasting error made by a British chancellor, warning there was unlikely to be a resurgence in the economy this year. Mr Darling is expected to use his April 22 Budget to admit the recession is much worse than he forecast,
Darling signals UK budget restraint
UK chancellor Alistair Darling on Wednesday gave a clear sign he would not mount a big new fiscal boost in next month’s Budget amid bleak public finances and evidence the economy is being bolstered in other ways.
Shredded, encore
RTRS: UK’S DARLING HAS ASKED FORMER RBS CEO GOODWIN TO FOREGO PENSION ENTITLEMENT
Lloyds makes lending pledge
UK chancellor Alistair Darling is set to drop the £480m annual interest bill charged to Lloyds Banking Group on a taxpayer loan in exchange for a promise by the bank to provide billions of pounds in extra mortgage funding and loans.
UK bank bonus row escalates
UK chancellor Alistair Darling on Sunday vowed to impose pay restraints across large parts of the banking industry amid public anger over his admission he would not stop Royal Bank of Scotland paying out £1bn-plus in bonuses this year.
The bad bank revival
Odd comments this morning from the Chancellor. Way back in January, when banks’ share prices were again spiralling to zero, the government announced plans for its troubled asset insurance scheme – what then seemed like a rather elegant alternative to the clunky bad bank plan.
UK revives ‘bad bank’ idea
UK chancellor Alistair Darling on Tuesday admitted that a “bad bank” scheme may have to be added to the government’s plans to insure banks against unexpected losses. Darling said the bad bank approach might be necessary with “one or two institutions” – qualifying his Jan 19 statement that the government favoured a “back stop” insurance scheme,
Darling in the dark
A rift has opened up between the government and the financial authorities after a furious Alistair Darling was kept in the dark over the lifting of the ban on short-selling, which may have contributed to this week’s tumultuous crash in the value of banking shares.