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Devil's Advocate

Archive for: March, 2009

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 24/03/2009 | 2380 views

Deflation? Cobblers

I suspect that many people are like me in not believing we are in a deflationary situation. It is complete cobblers and should not be influencing economic policy. The principal reason why the RPI is dropping into negative territory is that interest rates have been destroyed in recent months. This allegedly reduces the cost of living, which is ru... Tags: Cards, Retail bankingGroup: Trends in Financial Services

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 17/03/2009 | 2274 views

Card Cheques and Auto Limit Increases

Interesting development on the credit card front. Once more, the Government is trying to make out that the financial services industry is at fault for pushing credit on people. Whilst I subscribe to the view that there needs to be shackles on mortgage salary multipliers and LTV ratios (because that is heavily price-inflationary), I am less certai... Tags: Cards, Risk & regulationGroup: Trends in Financial Services

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 06/03/2009 | 2370 views | 3 comments

Do Some Real Good With 75 Billion

If the Government is going to spray £75 billion quids' worth of petrol on the embers of the economy, they could at least do it in a way that stands the best chance of achieving something. Here's an idea. Offer people the chance to sell a stake of up to 50% or £75k, in their house, whichever is the smaller. This can only go towards re... Tags: Risk & regulation, Retail bankingGroup: Trends in Financial Services

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 05/03/2009 | 1831 views | 1 comment

Calling Dr. House...

Do you watch House, the US medical drama series? In it, the team, ably led by the wonderfully acerbic Hugh Laurie as the eponymous head doctor in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine, solve puzzling medical cases through a range of medical tests, brainstorms and lateral thinking. We need an equivalent person, and department, to help us get out o... Tags: Risk & regulation, Retail bankingGroup: Trends in Financial Services

Roger Elwell - Yes Please - Colchester | 04/03/2009 | 4683 views | 9 comments

The Convenience of Cheques: Long May They Live

I wrote a cheque the other day. Only a small one; it was a present to a relative. A not very imaginative present, yes, but there you go. It got me thinking, though. If cheques disappeared, how would I send this present? Some people have said that this is where prepaid cards come in (indeed, in a past life, the use of prepaid cards as presents ... Tags: Cards, Retail bankingGroup: Trends in Financial Services