Bankers And Politicians

[Gambles]

Dear all,

Please find below the latest daily update from MBMG International.

We recently saw the following post on Citywire's blog (although we understand that it first appeared in Private Eye some time ago)

WHO IS THE ODD MAN OUT ~ and more importantly ~ WHY??

Lord Stevenson: former chairman, HBOS

Sir Fred Goodwin: former chief executive, RBS

Andy Hornby: former chief executive, HBOS

Sir Tom McKillop: former chairman, RBS

John McFall MP: chairman of Treasury Select Committee

Alastair Darling: Chancellor of the Exchequer

Gordon Brown: Prime Minister and former Chancellor

Sir Terry Wogan: presenter of Radio 2's Breakfast Show.

You're probably thinking............

Terry Wogan

You're right.

However, the reason may surprise you...........

Terry Wogan is the only one out of this motley crew who actually holds any formal banking qualification!

It's a bit of a worry!!

Indeed - if it's true it's a real worry. At MBMG we've come to admire the abilities of Asia's professional bankers compared to the sharp-suited business school grads whose speculative excesses on Wall Street have taken us all to the brink!

meanwhile.........

If we continue to think badly of politicians, maybe it's because they keep giving us reasons to do precisely that. Conservative party treasurer and one the city’s richest men Michael Spencer has earned the reputation as one of the City's more engaging and entrepreneurial characters. Down the years he also has sailed close to the wind.

Spencer, who is the Chief Executive and founder of broking firm ICAP, is under fire again as he sold 10.3m shares in ICAP at 440p a share netting him cool £45m, just weeks before a profit warning from ICAP that its annual profits would be between £295 million and £315 million, lower than the average City forecast which led to the shares plunging to 297p per share. This revelation prompted fellow opposition party, the Liberal Democrats, to call for Mr Spencer’s removal as Conservative treasurer, a position he has held for three years. Had Spencer held his shares and sold after the warning he would have realised £30m from the sale or if anyone bought the shares and still holds them they have lost a third of their investment.

A report in last weekend’s Sunday Times noted "ICAP chief Executive Michael Spencer is to quit his role as treasurer to Britain’s opposition Conservative Party to focus on running the company"

Under market abuse rules, employees of a company are not allowed to trade on the back of inside information. The FSA have so far refused to comment. Mr Spencer set up ICAP on a shoestring in 1986 and turned it into the world’s biggest Interdealer Broker. His fortune, even though affected by the credit crunch, is estimated at £750 million.

In 2004, Mr Spencer who is no stranger to controversy bought £5.5m worth of shares of the then ailing Marks and Spencer group a day after a meeting with his “old friend” Stuart Rose. Sixteen days later Philip Green Launched his takeover of M&S sending the shares soaring, making a paper profit for Spencer of £1.7m, a week later Stuart Rose was appointed Chief Executive....

Then again, we don't know whether or not he's a bully.....

Finally probably the worst thing to come out in the latest Browngate is that apparently he was stood nose-to-nose with BoE Governor, Mervyn King, and yet he DIDN'T give King a dam_n good hiding - poor judgement on 2 counts

1) It probably would have garnered more votes than Election Campaign spin can

2) If Brown loses the next election at least he'd have had the satisfaction of having stuck on the arrogant BoE chief.....

Enjoy your day!

Once again, very best regards,

MBMG International

Please Note: While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained herein is correct, MBMG International cannot be held responsible for any errors that may occur. The views of the contributors may not necessarily reflect the house view of MBMG International. Views and opinions expressed herein may change with market conditions and should not be used in isolation.

Edited February 23, 2010 by Gambles

[Gambles]

warming to my own theme -

Dear all,

Please find below the latest daily update from MBMG International.

It’s widely held that poachers make the best gamekeepers- various police forces have tried to make use of reformed criminal minds over the years to solve and/or prevent crimes . When the SEC was set up to regulate American stock Markets, it made a smart choice in picking uber – Scamster Joseph P Kennedy. So maybe there is some glimmer of sense in The FSA appointing Nomura chairman Colin Marshall as a senior adviser on corporate governance just two days after it fined the firm £1.75m for systems and controls failings along with four other senior advisers who have been appointed to work on governance and authorisation under the FSA’s new intensive supervision of significant influence functions within firms (these include an adviser to recently-fined UBS, a director of Carphone Warehouse, which was fined by the FSA in 2006, and an adviser to Morgan Stanley, which was fined earlier this year.)

Nomura’s failings took place during Marshall's ongoing tenure

Sir David Scholey of UBS (fined £8m earlier this month for systems and controls failings which enabled unauthorised trades to take place and losses to be attributed to customer accounts.)

Sir Brian Pitman, senior independent director of Carphone Warehouse Group since 2001, (fined £245,000 by the FSA in 2006 for not treating customers fairly in its sales of phone insurance.) Morgan Stanley was fined £1.4m in May this year for systems and controls failings.

Let’s see whether their experiences on the Dark Side can help the FSA clean up the UK financial sector.

Enjoy your day!

Once again, very best regards,

MBMG International

Please Note: While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained herein is correct, MBMG International cannot be held responsible for any errors that may occur. The views of the contributors may not necessarily reflect the house view of MBMG International. Views and opinions expressed herein may change with market conditions and should not be used in isolation.

[Trickcyclist]

and he wisely kept quiet about it!!!

[amanda1114]

totally agree.