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A Finextra Member

1970's Revisited

The twenty-teenies look to me as if they'll be a replay of the 1970's, here in the UK. No, I don't mean loon pants, two-tones, bad hairdos, glam-rock and tank-tops (but you never know...). No, I mean...

19 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Credit Reports - A Tax By Another Name

I've never received a letter quite like the one I received, over the weekend, from one of my credit card providers. It started with the sentence "Please sign and return the attached application ...

16 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

A Strictly Important Lesson To Learn

UK residents couldn't have possibly missed the furore about "Strictly Come Dancing" on Saturday - either as viewers of the programme or as observers of the news media subsequently. The even...

15 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Forcing Banks to Lend Part 3

If anyone needed convincing that interfering with 'proper' lending decisions by forcing banks to lend makes things worse, they need only look at the latest HBOS numbers. Huge increases in bad debts f...

12 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

A Good Wedge Off The National Debt...?

Maybe Ally Dally and GB are cleverer than some people thought. I know it's early days, but it's possible that the recovery of bank share prices could ultimately save the country descending into bankr...

09 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Reaction To Interest Rate Cut

One hopes that the MPC has considered fully what will be the consequences of the rate cut. Presumably, they think that this cut will help get the economy moving by encouraging people to spend. I'm n...

05 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Hands Up Anybody Who is Not A Hard-Working Family

One of the phrases that bugs me at the moment is 'hard working families'. Gordon Brown uses the phrase often, usually to preface an announcement of what he's going to do to 'help them'. I think I'm ...

04 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Soviet Britain

Interesting to read in the papers today that at least 10 boroughs in the UK now have almost 50% of the working population employed by the state, rather than the private sector. This, with what is hap...

01 Dec 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Cracking Nuts With Sledgehammers at UK FI

Last week saw the start of ramping up staff numbers at UK Financial Investments, the 'arms length' company the Government is setting up to manage the investments in RBS and the merged Lloyds group. I...

29 Nov 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Forcing The Banks To Lend Part 2

Yesterday saw the ante being well and truly upped on this issue, with the Bank of England Governor weighing in and the Chancellor speaking forth too, issuing veiled threats aplenty. This smacks at a ...

26 Nov 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

The 'Yes Buts' Are Ignored Again At Our Peril

Why is the the contrary view so devalued these days? In years gone past, savvy managers would ask people (the 'yes buts', or Devil's Advocates) to think about the downsides of any proposed course of ...

25 Nov 2008
Transaction Banking
A Finextra Member

Size Matters

There are a couple of reasons why the rumoured reduction in VAT is more likely to fail than succeed. One is the fact that much of peoples' basic spending is not subject to VAT and the other is one o...

24 Nov 2008
Transaction Banking

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