Peston's Picks

www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/robertpeston

Abonnenter: 5

Beskrivelse: I'm Robert Peston, the BBC's business editor. This blog is my take on the business stories and issues that matter.

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Peston Picks is moving

My blog is dead. Long live the new blog. Or to put it another way, my page - and those of other BBC bloggers - is having a makeover. So if you dont want to read on, and you simply want to read my lat...

12 maj 11

HSBC banks on UK

For all HSBCs mutterings that its fed up with having the UK as its home base - because of the incremental tax it pays here and what it perceives as an anti-bank climate - there is no evidence from to...

11 maj 11

What price a Greek haircut?

One of Europes most influential bankers said to me the other day that he thought it would be a disaster if any of the eurozones debt-stretched nations imposed a reduction in the value of their respec...

10 maj 11

The big PPI lesson for banks

The big lesson for the banks from todays decision by the British Bankers Association not to appeal against the high court ruling on Payment Protection Insurance is - funnily enough - very similar to ...

09 maj 11

RBS opposes internal firewalls

Although Royal Bank of Scotland is back in loss on a so-called statutory basis, having made the tiniest of profits in the final three months of last year, that doesnt really tell the story of what ha...

06 maj 11

Lloyds to settle PPI claims

Lloyds has decided not to use the courts any further to contest the decision of the regulator, the Financial Service Authority, that it should pay restitution to customers who were mis-sold PPI loan ...

05 maj 11

Lloyds: Back in the red?

Its the first results tomorrow for Lloyds new chief executive, Antonio Horta-Orsorio - and I wouldnt be at all surprised if, in the time-honoured fashion of new brooms, he announces substantial losse...

04 maj 11

Four billionaires at Glencore

I cant recall a flotation like it, in terms of the sheer number of executives emerging as wealthy beyond most peoples wildest dreams or expectations - not even the conversion of Goldman Sachs into a ...

04 maj 11

Is the Treasury understating pension liabilities?

Belatedly, Ive got round to looking at the Treasurys recent decision to change how it calculates the necessary contributions that have to be made to cover the future costs of unfunded public service ...

03 maj 11

Aircraft carrier costs to rise by at least a billion (again)

The cost of Britains controversial new aircraft carriers is set to rise by at least £1bn, and perhaps almost £2bn, as a result of the governments decision taken last October to make them compatible w...

28 apr 11

The corporate story behind GDP challenge

A clutch of big company results today illustrate the big economic trends in the UK and the world - and also say something about what the UK economy needs if its insipid recovery is to become somethin...

27 apr 11

Oligarch says will sell to BP at right price

My colleague Tanya Beckett has conducted a rare and fascinating interview with Viktor Vekselberg, one of the billionaire oligarchs who co-own TNK-BP with BP - and who have fallen out with BP over BPs...

26 apr 11

PPI and banks: Must pay, will pay?

You might have noticed that my mind (and body) have been away from the day job. But I am so gobsmacked by the comprehensive defeat of the banks in the PPI case that my fingers felt compelled to tap o...

20 apr 11

Could Germany afford Irish, Greek and Portuguese default?

The Western world remains where it has been for some time, delicately poised between anaemic recovery and a shock that could tip us back into economic contraction. Perhaps the most conspicuous manife...

15 apr 11

Browne not going to Glencore

Yes you read the headline correctly. It turns out that Lord Browne isnt going to be chairman of Glencore after all And, of course, if you think I look like a plonker, thats fair enough. Here is what ...

14 apr 11

Lord Browne moves to Glencore

I understand former BP chief executive Lord Browne is to be chairman of Glencore. Update 12:12: Lord Brownes appointment as chairman of Glencore - the commodities colossus which is about to float on ...

14 apr 11

BP: one last push to salvage Rosneft deal

Everyone is reading the last rites over BPs attempt to swap shares with Russias largest energy company, Rosneft. But my sense is that the British oil giant will have one last go at trying to salvage ...

13 apr 11

Do banks use £10bn subsidy wisely?

For me the most interesting part of the interim report of the Independent Commission on Banking is Annex three (right at the back of the book) on "cost-benefit analysis of financial stability ref...

12 apr 11

Banking Commission: retail banking must be ring-fenced

The Independent Banking Commission set up by the Treasury has come up with reform proposals for the banking industry in the UK that will anger and worry both the banks and the banks sternest critics....

11 apr 11

Banking Commission wants firewall around retail banking

The Independent Banking Commission will say that an internal firewall or protective barrier has to be put around the parts of a big or universal bank that are deemed to be vital to the interests of t...

09 apr 11

News International says sorry for phone hacking

News International is to admit liability in a number of cases brought against it for alleged phone hacking by the News of the World, its Sunday newspaper. The UK arm of Rupert Murdochs News In...

08 apr 11

What is the UKs contribution to Portuguese rescue?

First of all, it does now look as though the implied UK contribution to the Portuguese bailout will be around 4.8bn euros or £4.2bn (in line with what Ive been saying). That is because European...

08 apr 11

Who pays for Portugals mess?

To start parochially, the exposure of the UK to the financial mess in Portugal is comparatively limited. People walk past a shop window reflecting the old downtown of Lisbon According to figures from...

07 apr 11

Portugal: Bail-out finance looks cheap

Here are the results of Portugals auction of treasury bills. Portugal has borrowed 550m euros for six months at an interest rate of 5.1% and has also borrowed 455m euros for a year at 5.9%. This is v...

06 apr 11

Making sense of events in the Murdoch empire

Quite a lot has been happening at News Corporation over the past few days. So here are a few tenuously connected thoughts about it all. First, what to make of James Murdochs move to New York to becom...

06 apr 11

Retailers mega squeeze

Good and bad news from HMV this morning. It now expects profits for the current year to be even less than feared a few weeks ago: around £30m, down from £69m last year. As for its market ...

05 apr 11

Should Jeremy Hunt give up his powers to intervene?

I was slightly remiss in my coverage of the green light given by the Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to News Corporation’s plan to buy British Sky Broadcasting, in failing to highlight the follow...

04 apr 11

BP: Slow rehabilitation

For the avoidance of doubt, BP has not yet received formal permission from US regulators at the Bureau of Ocean Energy, Management, Regulation and Enforcement to resume drilling in the Gulf of Mexico...