Monthly Archives: June 2012

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Banking System marked with “shoddy treatment of customers” needs reform, says Bank of England boss

29 Friday Jun 2012

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The Banking Industry needs urgent reform, Sir Mervyn King, Bank of England Governor said today.

Speaking at the launch of the Bank’s twice-yearly Financial Stability Report, Sir Mervyn said the banking culture and structure suffered from  “excessive levels of compensation, shoddy treatment of customers, as well as deceitful manipulation of one of the most important interest rates.”

His comments accompanied news today that the UK’s big four banks have been found to have mis-sold complicated financial products to thousands of small businesses.

Yesterday, Barclays was fined £290m for fixing a key interest rate.

And there was also the mis-selling personal payment insurance to people who either did not need it, would not be able to claim on it, or did not know they had been sold it.

Sir Mervyn said: “We can see we need a real change in the culture of the industry.

“We don’t need any inquiry to know what we should be doing. There must be many people who work in banking today who know that they are honest, hard-working and feel they have been let down by some of their colleagues and indeed their leaders. What I hope is that everyone – everyone – now understands that something went very wrong with the UK banking industry and we need to put it right.”

He called for the government to implement the recommendations of the Vickers Commission on banking, which said that more risky investment banking should be separated from day-to-day banking needs of individuals and small businesses.”

Simon Walker, the head of the Institute of Directors, said in a statement: “As well as ripping off their customers, they have also harmed the reputation of business as a whole – they should feel deep shame for the damage they have done.”

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Euro 2012, Mario Balotelli propels Italy into the Finals

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Analysis 🙌, Breaking News 📺 🎙🗞, Comment, Europe 🇪🇺, Football ⚽️, Germany 🇩🇪, Sport 🏏 🎾 ⚽️

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BREAKING NEWS

Germany 1  Italy 2

This Italian team did not look like they would have a chance against Germany.

Then Mario Balotelli decided to tell the world, that he had arrived.

A header and a brilliant conversion from this young maverick and Germany were on the back foot.

The longer the game went on the less convincing Germany looked.

Germany had their moments towards the end, but never looked like they were going to score, as Italy applied the squeeze.

Then, one minute into extra time, an excellent Ozul penalty pulled one back and the game was on, but they had left it too late.

The truth was when the pressure was on, Germany simply folded, but that would never have happened had a 21-year-old Italian not seized the moment.

Bank Share Prices hit by Fresh Scandal

28 Thursday Jun 2012

Posted by in Financial 💷 💲 🏦

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Barclays shares ended trading down 15.5% following the news that the bank had been fined £290m by investigators probing how lending rates were manipulated during the financial crisis.

Barclays was fined £290m ($450m) after an investigation into claims that several banks manipulated the Libor rate at which they lend to each other.

HSBC, RBS, Citigroup and UBS are also under investigation.

Investigators say that Barclays’ traders lied to make the bank look more secure during the financial crisis and, sometimes – worked with traders at other banks – to make a profit.

Shares in other banks to fall include –  RBS losing 11.5%, Lloyds down 3.9%, and HSBC, 2.6%.

Barclays has acknowledged that its actions between 2005 and 2009 had fallen “well short of standards”.

LIBOR (London Inter Bank Offered Rate) is the rate at which banks in London lend money to each other for the short-term in a particular currency. A new Libor rate is calculated every morning by financial data firm Thomson Reuters based on interest rates provided by members of the British Bankers Association.

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⚽️ Are Spain squeezing the life out of Football? 🇪🇸

28 Thursday Jun 2012

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Commentary

Apparently, that was the feeling amongst the crowd at the Donbass Arena last night, as Spain reached their third straight major final in a row.

Now, why would the Portuguese fans being saying and thinking like this – can’t imagine…

Spain’s emergence, which resembles all the excitement and artistry of the 1982 Brazilians has exposed a number of truths and hard realities.

Apart from Germany – and with Russia and Holland waiting in the wings – the other sides in this competition have been at best average.

Those of us who still wonder what would have been had those fouling bunch of players called Italy not beaten Socrates, Zico, Eder, Falcao…remember them… feel we have been thrown a new life line by this Spanish team that lives up to the hype.

And the team that will able to take them on in the final is of course Germany, who should be there, unless they are very unlucky.

So have Spain squeezed the life out of the game – of course not.

And what’s the best way to beat them – play better than them, Mr Ronaldo et al.

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Euro 2012, Spain are through on penalties

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

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BREAKING NEWS

Portugal 0 Spain 0 (2-4 on penalties)

Portugal played lockdown and it was a tactic that worked.

Except for the occasional flashes, Spain found it difficult to penetrate the Portuguese game plan that intended to disrupt Spain’s rhythm in the hope of finding Cristiano Ronaldo at the front.

And as the game went on longer, it was clear Portugal were just playing for penalties.

This was not pretty, but when have Portugal played any other way.

And despite a better Spanish showing in extra time, the game went into penalties.

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🗳 Egypt’s First Democratically Elected President 🇪🇬

27 Wednesday Jun 2012

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ANALYSIS

When Gamal Abdel-Nasser seized power of Egypt through an army coup, he immediately threw the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al Banna into a concentration camp.

It did not matter that the Brotherhood had backed his struggle, he just did not want to see Islam playing a role in governing his people.

So, he is probably turning in his grave as crowds in Tahrer Square and elsewhere greet Mohammed Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood as the country’s first ever democratically elected President.

Sunday’s momentous declaration has of course to be treated with caution.

Egypt’s army has seized on a court ruling to curtail the outcome of parliamentary elections that had given the Muslim Brotherhood the majority share of the vote.

Of course, the whole system was designed by Hosni Mubarak to ensure that the Muslim Brotherhood would never rule.

So, getting as far as they have is incredible.

Those who say that the ‘Arab’ Spring did not have this outcome in mind, may be right.

Yes, this is a vote for reactionaries, and yes it would be great to see a truly secular party born of the Islamic tradition being elected into both seats of power.

However, this result is also a consequence of the actions of Nasser, Sadat and Mubarak, all of whom were of course strong figures backed by a ruthless military. the very military that is now showing no sign of allowing the country’s first democratically elected President any room to rule.

And until that happens, the dreams and ambitions of the protesters will never be realised.

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ENGLAND’S EURO EXIT 2012

26 Tuesday Jun 2012

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Hodgson says Germany were poor once

ANALYSIS

Roy Hodgson was appointed for a number of reasons, one of which may have been to lower expectations.

On that at least, he did not disappoint.

No one expected England to do well, and even if they had managed to beat Italy – which would have been a great injustice to football – they would have been taken apart by Germany.

England’s football management seem unable to have grasped what other countries understood long ago, namely that the emergence of Spain as World Champions heralded a new, more exciting way of playing the beautiful game.

Even the Germans with all their successes behind them understood that.

So also Holland and Russia, who despite failing to progress in this tournament can build on their performances.

For in spite of their flaws, those teams are still a work in progress.

Sadly, that can not be said of England.

And the reaction of FA Chairman David Bernstein to this unsatisfactory England exit from another major tournament does not bode well for the future either.

He believes that England can build on their performances.

In fact, the best that can be said of this bunch of overpaid, overrated and uninspiring team of players is that they resemble Dad’s Army.

And with the rivalry between Spain and Germany dominating football in the way that was once reserved for Brazil and Argentina, that will not be good enough.

Sadly for the home of football, that will mean riding your luck before the inevitable – namely the pathetic sight of Dad’s Army Coming Home.

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