Lunchtime Links: See Vince Cable ride in to defend the City against José Manuel Barroso
If you work in banking, you may not be massively partial to Vince Cable. He has, after all, said things like "UBS is a rogue bank". And yet he's also said that he wants to be friends with the City. Today, Vince made his bid for sleepover status.
In his state of the union address today, EU president José Manuel Barroso proposed a transaction tax which would apply across the 27 countries in the European Union from 2014 and raise €57bn a year.
The tax would, "ensure that the financial sector makes a fair contribution at a time of fiscal consolidation," said Barroso, pointing out that, "In the last three years, member states have granted aid and provided guarantees of €4.6tn to the financial sector. It is time for the financial sector to make a contribution back to society."
Needless to say, such a tax - imposed only in the EU - could prove damaging to the UK. The Financial Times says it's seen an impact assessment of such a levy which predicts the tax would wipe out 90% of derivatives trading in the EU. Most of this trading takes place in London.
Fortunately, therefore, Vince has come along to see Barroso off.
"The British government's longstanding view is that taxation is a national responsibility," he told Bloomberg in a televised interview. "A transaction tax is a theoretical idea - the only country that has tried it is Sweden and it ended up losing money....the Eurozone countries can do what they wish - we are not members of the Eurozone... This is not something that could be forced on the UK and it is not something we want to participate in."
Bonuses will be down 20% this year. (Fox Business)
Even if UBS decided to spin off its investment bank, it would have a hard time funding it as a stand-alone unit. (Reuters)
UBS is turning back into SG Warburg. (Financial News)
The Bank of England wants power to make traders use recognized trading platforms. (WSJ)
Governments as shadow banks: the looming threat to financial stability. (Federal Reserve)
Vultures are now circling John Paulson. (WSJ)
How a man who has never been authorised by the Financial Services Authority and has no discernible history working for a City institution ended up being interviewed by the BBC remains a mystery. (Telegraph)
What exactly is so crazy/controversial/amazing/enlightening about what Alessio Rastani? (Kid Dynamite)
Google is moving into a seven-floor building in the heart of East London to foster British start-ups and developers as part of plans to transform the East End into a rival to Silicon Valley. (The Times)
"On arrival, I immediately hear from the career services team that having a part-time programme on your CV demonstrates limitless commitment to career development, admiration of challenges (and pursuance of perfection), which feels comforting." (London Business School Blogs)
