CBI head warns banks over 'toxic' bonuses

Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI (Confederation of British Industry), urges politicians to avoid levying taxes on banks, as it would eventually be the customer paying these in bank charges.  The reason politicians are levying a tax on banks is to try and avoid continuous payments of high bonuses.

Taxes will be levied once banks grant their bankers too much bonuses, hence why Lambert warned the banks to be cautious about so called ‘toxic bonuses’.  Despite Lambert’s  urge, charges on banks’ balance sheets will soon be implemented by George Osborne, a British Conservative Politician.

Source

Wim Verhoeven

Fool's Gold

Gold has always had a reputation of being a save investment in times of crisis. Despite that gold hasn't got any functional use, investors keep putting their money on gold bricks.
Some speculators claim it is the ultimate soap bubble, and that from the moment the economy restores, only the few quick sellers will gain profit from their investment. Others have no worries, confident that a record price of 850 dollar per ounce in the eighties -converted: 2300 dollar- will not be exceeded for a long time.

Tom Van Raemdonck

article: "Mystiek metaal met eeuwig leven" De Tijd zaterdag 2 oktober 2010
pic: http://www.open2.net/blogs/money/index.php/2008/06/12/gold_fever?blog=5

Youth and money management?

Youngsters aren’t very concerned about their finances, they do think writing down their incomes and expenses would be very useful, but realizing this seems difficult. Often young people start saving their money, but the moment they are going out they stop looking after it and spend more money than they should. The most money is spend on social purposes or on status, youngsters want to be popular, so they buy drinks or gifts for their friends, or luxury goods (for example designer clothes) for themselves to ‘buy’ a status. Lending money seems no option for young people, they would feel stressed by the idea, but lending a little amount of money from friends or family is a possibility for most of them, because they see it as advancing not as lending.

Sofie Verdonckt

Source: http://www.managersonline.nl/nieuws/10185/jongeren-regelen-hun-financin-uit-de-losse-pols.html

A Swiss finish

Swiss banks are enlarging their safeguards beyond the BASEL III accord to restore the clients’ faith in private banking. In response to the financial crisis, new capital rules were introduced, forcing banks to hold up to 7% risk-adjusted assets, but this won’t do the trick for historically safe Switzerland. Swiss banks add an additional 3%, augmented with another 9% of contingent convertible bonds (CoCo bonds), equaling a total buffer of 19%, not extraordinary compared to the losses caused by the financial crisis. These requirements will not be limited to Switzerland, this is an evolution to be expected in all large global firms; the combination of core capital and a percentage of debts, convertible into equity. (Source: The Economist)

Rémi Wildschut

Stop saving, get spending ... Or not?

Knowing there’s a £379bn pensions gap, being told to save less is hard to understand. But Charlie Bean (deputy governor of the Bank of England)is urging consumers to stop saving and get buying again. The main cause of the global economic crisis was the excessive debt and the economy can’t start to work properly until this debt is brought back to more reasonable levels, this according to Justin Urquhart Stewart is far more important to the economy than consumers spending more. Jeremy Batstone-Carr thinks Bean's underlying message may have been spend while you can because tomorrow, your savings will be worthless – hyperinflation is a much more serious problem than deflation and we may have already taken the first steps to this situation because of the huge amount of support already pumped into the economies.

Source :  http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/oct/06/saving-makes-sense

Magali Vervaele

Inflation stays at 3.1% after record jump in clothing costs

Inflation remains steady at 3.1% during the month of September which strengthens the controversy about how to decrease the alarming inflation rate. A fall in the cost of petrol and air fares failed to reduce inflation due to high clothing, food and furniture prices. There exists disagreement among the economists about the idea of the Bank of England to invest more money in the economy since the first round of quantitative easing didn’t make any improvement. The decision to adopt the consumer price index is also criticized because it would affect pensioners and members of the private sector. (the guardian)

Sacha Van de Sype

Settling down thanks to your bank.

Nowadays, some of the biggest banks collaborate with property dealers to assist customers in their search of a cosy home. 'Home Banking' is an upcoming trend since it has numerous mutual benefits for both parties. For example, it's worth considering advantages like less intermediary costs for customers and increased confidence between bank and their clients. The fact that people consider banks as institutes which take care of their money rather than snapping every possible penny, certainly boosts this win-win situation.

Source: http://www.financialexpress.com/news/home-banking/694652/

Lennert Van Vooren