Just in case there was a bank director somewhere in the UK that was beginning to believe that public pressure and criticism of the bank’s role in dragging the UK into the deepest and probably longest running financial quagmire for the last 75 years or so, that official received a very rude awakening yesterday. The alarm call from hell came in the form of report from a Treasury committee that confirmed that the bulk of the blame came from the banks and their irresponsible reckless behaviour.

Understandably, the committee, consisting of Members of Parliament, was in full support of the government’s attempts to shore up the banking system. There were many and obvious nuances in the report that provided a definite impression that the committee was principally concerned for the customer’s interests and very little for the bank’s management and staff.

Looking to the future, and a possible recovery, the committee stressed that they were less than enthusiastic with the banks, who had only managed to increase their charges without making a serious effort to increase lending to small businesses and those who were interested in purchasing properties, and who met the necessary criteria.
The report also suggested that bank, in the future, should be much more closely regulated and added their support for the concept of a retail banking sector, which should be separated in its entirety from the commercial and investment banking sector.

The tone of the report adds weight to the current developments in the banking sector where well know high street retailers, with Boots and Tesco’s leading the way, will be competing with the High Street banks for custom. It will be interesting how the public will react to this new development.

In the meantime, the banks will have to work very hard to convince the public to bank with them and restore their confidence.

• India Budget: The Banking Fillip | Advantage Research Blatant Borrowing of Global idea banks A long-standing complaint of...
• A New Kind Of Nigerian Scam? I recently got an email from a reader that I...
• Bank Fees Charged To Unemployed Workers Talk about kicking people when they are down.  Recent news...

Tags: Bank, Boots, Credit Crunch, Financial News, Tesco, UK Banks

As the global economy rewrites the history books the unlikely scenario laid out above may well become a reality in the not too distant future. Following in the footsteps of the record profit making Tesco group, that well known British institution, Boots the chemist have also announced that they are considering a move into the personal banking sector. The company, who operate 2,600 stores throughout the UK see the recent financial instability and subsequent public disillusionment with the traditional banks as an opportunity to carve themselves out a niche in the latest generation of high street banks that are about to spring up after the UK economy regroups itself. And who can boast a cleaner image than Boots?

The eagerly anticipated list of the UK’s super wealthy has just been announced and there are some less than happy faces around this year. The UK’s wealthiest man, steel magnate Lakshmi Niwas Mittal is a lot less better off than he was last year. To be exact, 23.5 billion pounds less well off. Overall, the figures show that the ultra-rich are now 155 billion pounds in total less well off than one year ago, and the number of UK billionaires now number 43 from 75 this time last year. Sad but true.

Not before time some might say, but at a recent of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) held in Washington, finance ministers from around the World have announced that urgent reforms of banking systems in developed countries is long overdue and should be implemented at short notice to hasten global economic recovery.

A sign that this refreshing thinking has yet to hit the corridors of that Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC (RBS) is they news that bank officials have yet to respond to an official request by the Treasury Committee for information on pay and bonuses at the bank..

They were not the only bank to receive such a request and also not the only one of the state controlled banks to ignore it.

As the stock exchange closed for the weekend the FTSE 250 index closed at 7,369.75 up 180 points, while the FTSE 100 finished the session up 137.6 points, higher at 4,156 on Friday

Sterling fell slightly against the dollar and rose against the Euro as well as the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc:

Pound/US dollar 1.462

Pound/Euro 1.104

Pound/Japanese Yen 140.49

Pound/Swiss Franc 1.6671

Wall Street shares enjoyed a fair days trading before the markets closed for the weekend.

The Dow Jones Average rose 119.23 points to close at 8076, 3. Nasdaq continued its steady climb of late up 42.08 points to 1694.29

The market may have been buoyed by the news that Ford’s results for the first quarter of 2009 were better than expected, and will allow them to refrain from accepting government aid, unlike two of Ford’s biggest rivals, General Motors and Chrysler, who have taken billions of dollars in US government aid yet still face bankruptcy

• Compounding Interest in the NFL Yesterday, I explained how the Patriots trade for Randy Moss...
• More Clarity On The Appraisal I found out why they've charged us $850 for the...
• Fed Joins Other Banks To Cut Interest Rates Photo Credit: epicharmus I'm about to leave my house when...

Tags: Bank, Bank of England, Boots, British Economy, IMF, Lakshmi Niwas Mittal, Royal Bank of Scotland, Tesco, UK Banks

Boots Opticians is to merge with Dollond & Aitchison, the high street retail chain said today.

The combined business, trading as Boots Opticians, will have around 690 practices and employ more than 5,000 staff with Dollond & Aitchison gradually disappearing from the high street as its stores adopt the Boots Optician brand.

A spokesman announced that said the new company will become second largest chain of opticians in the UK, knocking taking over the slot currently held by Vision Express. Specsavers are expected to remain Great Britain’s largest chain of opticians.

Boots Opticians will be run as a separate and autonomous entity from the rest of the Alliance Boots group, with head offices to be situated in Nottingham.

Boots Opticians currently has a staff of 2,800 people, while Dollond & Aitchison employs 2,200.

A spokeswoman for Alliance Boots said neither company had full coverage in the UK, so it was anticipated that there would not be much overlap.

On the floor, mining giant, Rio Tinto, announced that they could be looking for a rights issue whilst rival Xstrata unveiled their plans to raise £4.1bn through a heavily discounted two-for- one share offer causing their shares to fall eleven per cent almost immediately As rapidly as they had fallen, Xstrata’s shares rose, and by the end of the day had not only recovered, but risen a further 3.61 percent.

Another company whose shares had an erratic day was the Cookson Group, manufacturers of industrial materials. The group announced that they would also be looking for a rights issue, and a fairly spectacular twelve -for-one deal at that. Obviously such a strong dilution did not please the market and their shares fell in value over some frenzied sell off activity. However recovery was not far away and their shares closed up 12.25 per cent at 95.5p

On the day  the FTSE 250 index rose by 1.49% or 93.35 points to 6351.92 while the FTSE 100 finished the session 3.9 per cent, or 156.5 points, higher at 4,209.

Sterling fell slightly against the dollar and the Euro and rose slightly against the Japanese Yen and the Swiss Franc:

·       Pound/US dollar 1.424 

·       Pound/Euro 1.018

·       Pound/Japanese Yen 127.58

·       Pound/Swiss Franc   1.6425Wall Street shares had a bad day on Thursday’  trading

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 226.44  38.47, to close at 8149.03. Nasdaq fell 50.5 points to 1507.84

Oil giant Royal Dutch Shell has posted a sharp fall in quarterly profits after the price of oil slumped dramatically towards the end of last year.

Profit for the final three months of 2008 fell to $4.8bn (£3.4bn), down 28% from the same period a year ago and 56% lower than the previous quarter.

But annual profits at the Anglo-Dutch company rose 14%, to $31.4bn, helped by record oil prices over the summer.

Oil prices rose slightly to $41.00 a barrel with calls from producers to gradually reduce  production and increase prices.

Hong Kong’s key stock index climbed in its first trading session of the Lunar New Year, after the U.S. House of Representatives approved an $819 billion stimulus plan that investors hope will revive the world’s largest economy.

Catching up after a three-day break to celebrate the Year of the Ox, the blue chip Hang Seng index Thursday surged more than 7 percent at the open, then pared some gains.

The benchmark index finished 575.83 points, or 4.6 percent, higher at 13,154.43.

• 2010 Grammy Winners [/caption] LOS ANGELES -- Beyoncé became the most decorated female...
• There's Still No Inflation But Milk Is $4/Gallon Today's post is from the Mogambo Guru, who expresses his...
• Obama At House Republican Retreat In Baltimore: FULL VIDEO, TEXT [/caption] Video of President Obama's remarks to the House Republican...

Tags: Boots, Boots the Opticians, Credit, Credit Crunch, Dollond & Aitchison, Finance, Financial News, Opticians, Recession, Retail