Wednesday, Aug 26, 2009
City 'Socially Useless' says FSA chair
BBC: Lord Turner backs new banking tax
Lord Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, also described much of the activities of the City of London as "socially useless".
Posted by phdinbubbles @ 10:38 PM (477 views) Add Comment
7 Comments
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1. devo said...
"socially useless"
Does that mean in a Mr. Bean sort of way?
2. jack c said...
Mr Turner would do well to remember that this little caper from last week hasnt yet quietly passed
(Source Citywire) nma.citywire.co.uk/adviser/-/news/regulation-training-and-competence/content.aspx?ID=354779
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has given a fifth of its staff a 10% pay rise to compensate them for the closure of its final salary scheme to existing members.
A total of 495 staff were told last month that they would no longer be able to contribute to the pension scheme, according to The Sunday Telegraph, and would be moved into a defined contribution scheme.
The staff will instead be offered discretionary pay rises of 10%.
A FSA spokesman told The Sunday Telegraph: ‘Following a consultation, a decision was made to close this scheme in March 2010 and affected staff will move to a money purchase pension scheme
‘This is part of our aim to move all FSA staff on to a common pay and reward platform rather than operating two systems as currently happens.’
He added: ‘To reflect the impact of this change in benefits, final stalwart staff will receive a 10% salary uplift as part of the new terms.’
The increase in salary is sure to bring further criticism of the FSA, which fell into the red this year for the first time, spending £347 million but raising just £324 million in fees and levies.
Its annual report also showed it had extended its overdraft facility to £200 million but still paid out £19.7 million in bonuses to staff in April.
3. icarus said...
True. To remind ourselves what the financial sector is there for: the productive and efficient allocation of scarce capital. This from Benjamin Friedman in today's FT. "Perversely, the largest individual returns seem to flow to those whose job it is to ensure that microscopic ...... deviations from observable regularities in asset price relationships persist for only one millisecond instead of three. These talented and energetic young citizens could surely be doing something more useful" (This was after he pointed out that a quarter of Haevard graduates who took jobs went into finance.)
(if you want to read the srticle just google 'overmighty finance levies a tithe on growth')
4. europeanbear said...
British Bankers Association spokesman Brian Capon said the UK was the top centre in the world for global banking, "an achievement that we shouldn't take lightly".
That's why all British banks are bankrupt (or would be except for government bailouts.....)
5. mark wadsworth said...
Or as Martin Wolf asked - why is our government so obsessed with the finance sector? What's the point in having a competitive advantage in a global bad?
6. keith thomas said...
An insurance levy should be applied to the banking industry as the state effectively underwrites it. As we have recently seen the banks aren't proper businesses - they aren't allowed to fail. For this privileged status they should pay a levy to the tax payer and be heavily regulated to prevent excessive "risk taking" (not that really taking any of course).
7. mr g said...
Turner is not being very original when he tells us something we have known for years, "the activities of the City of London are socially useless"