As many people have expected, Vince Cable the coalition government's business secretary has today attacked the forthcoming appointment of Bob Diamond as chief executive of Barclays Bank group. He believes that by mixing those with investment banking and retail banking experience there may be further problems ahead for the UK banking arena unless some of the larger corporations can be broken up.
UK social housing company Connaught has been forced to call in KPMG as administrators to the group after banking support was apparently withdrawn. This is a company which employed more than 10,000 people in the UK and is active in a whole host of public-sector service projects which will need to be protected from the ongoing issue with the company.
Today's revelation that Bob Diamond, the head of investment banking at Barclays Bank, will take over as chief executive of the overall group next year has raised a few eyebrows in the city. It seems almost inevitable that the much heralded breakup of the UK banking industry, separating investment banking from retail banking operations, will fall flat on its face if Bob Diamond is moving over to take over the overall group.
Stephen Green, the chairman of HSBC, will step down from his post with the banking giant later this year and take up the role of Trade Minister with the UK government. This will bring to a close a 28 year career in the financial industry and allow the UK government to bring on board one of the best respected names in the UK financial arena.
Connaught Group, the stock market listed social housing company, has today suspended its shares amid concerns that the company's bankers are willing to come forth with any more funding to support the company in the short to medium term. It is believed that government spending cuts had blown a £200 million hole in the company's revenue forecast for the future, something which saw the shares fall over £3 to just 16p upon suspension.
Bob diamond is set to become the new chief executive of Barclays Bank next year which is likely to cause more friction between the UK banking sector and the government. Bob Diamond was once described by Lord Mandelson as the unacceptable face of capitalism and has a reputed £95 million fortune which has on the whole been earned in the investment banking arena.
As the newly appointed Banking Commission looks to hit the ground running and suggest significant changes to the UK banking sector there are concerns as to whether consumers would benefit from any proposed breakup of UK banks. It seems that many in the government are adamant that larger banks in the UK should separate their investment activities from their retail activities to produce greater transparency and reduce the risks associated with retail banking.
The US Federal Reserve has today issued a statement suggesting that the days of "too big to fail" institutions are well and truly in the past amid hopes that no one group of companies will ever again hold the worldwide economy to ransom. There is no other sector in world which could attract the same attention as the financial industry, whether in the boom times or the bust times, with billions upon billions of pounds of taxpayer's money used to prop up the struggling sector in the aftermath of the credit crunch.
A report by the Bank for International Settlements has highlighted the massive growth in the worldwide currency markets with London pretty much outpacing the rest of the world. The vast majority of currency transactions are carried out in the London market where growth has been around 25% over the last three years against an average of 20% across-the-board.
The last few days have been very volatile for the UK stock market, and indeed worldwide stock markets, but this morning the UK market is up around 1.4% on renewed bid and merger activity. There is no doubt that over the last few weeks we have seen a significant increase in corporate activity within many overseas predators hovering over a number of UK companies.
