Banks

That’s right! I don’t want to write about Barclays (LSE:BARC)! You probably think that means that Mr. Chambers is making me do it. That is simply not the case. I don’t want to write about Barclays because everyone else is writing about Barclays today. I don’t want to write about Barclays because they are a […]

Have you ever wondered why there are analysts and economists? The analysts are buried in the down and dirty, devilish details, whilst the economists step back and view things on a much broader scale. The analysts exist to drive investors crazy and the economists exist to help us not get caught up in the anxiety […]

The Amsterdam market of Euronext, a wholly owned subsidiary of IntercontinentalExchange Group (NYSE:ICE), today saw the launch of trading in Rabobank Certificates (NYSE:RABO). The Rabobank Certificates are deeply subordinated investment products that enable investors to participate in Rabobank, an international financial service provider operating on a cooperative basis. The certificates...

Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets, commented in his Weekly Roundup to clients, It’s been a cracking week for the UK’s FTSE 100, finally breaking-out above those 6775 bugbear festive highs to revisit October highs of 6820 and 6840 levels last seen in late May. helped by a largely positive and taper-supportive […]

Mike van Dulken, Head of Research at Accendo Markets, commented in his Weekly Roundup to clients, Since we last wrote the UK flagship Index closed 2013 +14.4%, capping off a terrible year for its miners (-30% to -60%) but a great one for the likes of airlines (+100 to +120%) and financial services (+35% to […]

Royal Bank of Scotland shares (LSE:RBS) has assumed a new lease of an uptrend, which would enable bulls to collect many socks along the way up, while bears lose their socks. The market was recently in a downtrend, but further downward movement was rejected in the month of December 2013, as the price broke upwards. […]

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) just put a wet blanket on the Barclays Capital (LSE:BARC) Yule Log.  At about noon EST, FINRA levied a $3.75 million fine on the financial firm for its failure to properly maintain “electronic records, emails and instant messages.” Barclays is alleged to have violated SEC laws as well as […]

As I was saying yesterday, investors, especially those with large amounts at stake, need to take a closer look when the company in which they are investing indicates that they are on a cost-cutting campaign. This discussion was motivated by the Royal Bank of Scotland’s (LSE:RBS) computer system crash that, among other things, blocked customers […]

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group(LSE:RBS) has reached a settlement with the European Commission, in relation to competition law breaches concerning certain interest rate derivatives referenced to the London Interbank Offered Rate, LIBOR, based on Japanese Yen  and the Euro Interbank Offered Rate., URIBOR.  The Commission has handed out fines totaling 1.7bn euros to eight […]

I poured my morning coffee, unfolded my newspaper, and nearly choked on the headline:  RBS Admits Decades of IT Neglect.  All I could think was, “You blithering idiots!” I’m not going to discuss RBS share price (LSE:RBS) today, although I will say that it is, inexplicably, up 0.30 pence to 331.40, about one-tenth of one […]