Banks given cheap credit

“Uncertain,” “Paralysing,” and “Pessimistic.” Those were the words Sir Mervyn King used to describe the effects the eurozone crisis has had on the UK economy at his annual Mansion House speech on Thursday evening. The Bank of England Governor was joined by UK Chancellor George Osborne as he addressed an assembly of the city’s most…

Spanish misery compounds eurozone

The country’s credit rating now teeters barely above junk status, amid growing fears it will sink still further after being shut out of international markets. The borrowing interest rates currently stand at the highest they’ve been since the euro’s inception, with the yield on Spain’s 10-year bonds shooting up to 6.86 percent. Last weekend, eurozone…

Hedge assets to gain $1trn each year for next five

The predictions come as the trade evolves beyond its entrepreneurial, private roots to meet investor and regulator demands for greater transparency and more robust operations. A recent Citigroup survey predicted that hedge funds could lure $2trn in new money to investment vehicles long associated with mutual-fund companies and other institutional managers including “long-only” funds that…

Uncertainty surrounds India’s GAAR implementation

The Indian government decided to defer implementing GAAR for another year after a visit from the US Treasury Secretary in April. General Anti-Avoidance Rules were established to fight tax avoidance by enforcing the country’s tax regulations. The GAAR regulations were part of the proposed Direct Tax Code 2010 to deter sophisticated means of ducking income…

Spain downgraded as banks face €112bn hit

Fitch sliced its rating on government debt three notches from A to BBB, barely above junk status, blaming the enormous projected cost of cleaning up the country’s troubled banking sector, the deep recession and soaring national debt. The downgrade came after it emerged European officials were weighing up a bailout programme for Spain that would…