"Libor rigging"

U.S. and British authorities on Wednesday (25th September 2013)fined ICAP, the world's biggest interdealer broker, $87 million and criminally charged three former employees for their role in the Libor benchmark rate rigging scandal.

Read the whole article http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/25/us-icap-libor-idUSBRE98O0BX20130925   and answer the questions below.

1. What is Libor and why was it "rigged"?
2. Who will face criminal action?
3. Which other banks have been affected already?
4. How do you think this could have been prevented?

Answers in the comments please.

Lynchpin

This week's article from the guardian.co.uk describes Germany as being the “lynchpin of the euro’s viability”, it also reports a suggestion that Mrs Merkel has suggested that Germany should leave the euro.

Please read the article and answer the following questions. Discuss the answers with your teacher or colleagues.

1. What does the word wrangling mean?

1. Arguing
2. Fighting
3. catching wild cows in America
4. a type of clothing

2. Mrs Merkel wanted certain countries to lose their voting rights in EU councils, which countries was she referring to? What argument did she use to support this idea?
3. Which is the next country to need rescue according to the article?

Surge in Christmas shopping

This week’s article is discussing the current surge in shopping because of the nearness of Christmas. Read the article and answer the following questions, have a discussion with your teacher in class about this topic.

1.Does Christmas have this effect in your country?

Write a short email to a friend in the UK telling them about Christmas shopping in your country.  Add it as a comment or mail it to me.

2. Where are people getting the extra money for all this shopping from?

3. What does the word lacklustre mean? Explain it as a comment in this blog.

4. What will happen to shop sales in the New Year according to the article?

5. Why does Samuel Tombs think people are shopping so much now?

Herd mentality

This weeks word of the week is herd mentality. In our article the author puts forward the idea that investors following each other when investing has cost them hundreds of pounds in lost profits.
Read the Telegraph article and then discuss the following points in class or with a colleague in English.

1. The article states that following the herd means investors often buy at the top of the market and sell at the bottom. Explain to a non financial person why this causes them a problem.
2. Why do you think the herd mentality exists?
3. In the article Colin Maclean is recommending buying shares in companies with overseas exposure. Why is this?
4. Read the paragraph which starts "Robert Burdett of..." and decide what type of investment Robert is recommending. Write a short paragraph to explain his recommendation.

Flagging Means Declining in strength; weakening:

Our article this week is features Wolfgang Schaeuble's attack on America's quantitative easing policy.Read the article and:-

Why is Herr Schaeuble so againsthttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5447842808563114257 this policy? Do you agree with him? What should the USA do to stimulate its ecomony?

Write an email to Herr Schaeuble saying why you agree with him or not, post it to this blog or get your teacher to correct it for you.

Write an email to the US finance minister explain what you think they should do in the current economic situation,post it to this blog or get your teacher to correct it for you.

Have a good week

Short-termism

This week's article concerns short-termism in the field of takeovers and the city.This story from Yahoo follows up the takeover panel's proposals earlier in the week.
Questions following on from the text.

1. Why is short-termism a problem in business?
2. Why is it a particular problem when a business is taken over?
3. Should all investors in a company have equal rights or should long term investors have more rights?
4. Is it easy for a foreign company to take over a company in your country?
5. What are the possible dangers of such a takeover?

Write your answers in the comment section or discuss this topic with your teacher in class.

IMF - "Steering Committee" fails to find ...

Our word or phrase of the week for this week is "steering committee".I have taken our article from yahoo this morning where they are reporting on the IMF steering committee's attempts to deal with a possible future currency  war.
Exercises
Read the article and then write a short report to summarize the meeting.

Do you agree with Dominique Strauss-Kahn's opinion about co-operation? Why Why not? Please write a short note to your teacher to explain your opinion.


Which countries are said in the article to agree with the United States and which to disagree?

Create a short table to show this.

Stinginess is the word of the week

Our word of the week this week is stinginess as Chinese Billionaires were accused of this after not attending a charity banquet organised by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Read the article from the Guardian and answer the following questions.

• What famous Dickens character was accused of being stingy?
• Do you agree that the Chinese billionaires are stingy or are they being careful not to expose how much money the have to the world.
• Is American Billionaires philanthropy only a "tax dodge."
• Write a letter to a Billionaire asking him her for money for your favourite charity. Explain why it is a good cause.
• How the money will be spent
• What benefit the billionaire will have if they give the charity the money.
• Give your letter to your teacher to check or post it to this blog as a comment.

Internation Currency war- Devaluations

Devaluations

This weeks blog post is about devaluation of international currencies. In an article in the Guardian the Brazilian Finance minister states that countries are keeping the value of their currencies artificially low to support their export industries.Read the article and then:-

Write a short report on the history of the value of your countries currency or that of another currency against the value of the dollar this year. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of devaluation of your countries currency to your company. As your teacher to mark your report or add it to this blog.

Irish banks BAILOUT

This week’s article is a very short one for a change and it is not from a newspaper, it is from yahoo. However, the language is still quite difficult it deals with rumors of the need for a bailout of the Irish banking system. Follow the link for an explanation of bailout. http://www.squidoo.com/learning-financial-and-professional-english
We do not have a quiz this week instead we have two writing exercises for you to try.

Please read the article and the explanation then prepare firstly a very short note to your boss on the contents of this article. Write as if your company has money in the Irish banks.
Then write an email to your Irish bank manager asking him-
1) If his bank will need financial assistance for the IMF
2) If he expects any further large financial losses
3) Also ask how much money the bank holds in gold reserves.
Give your exercises to your teacher for marking or add then as comments to the blog so I can mark them.
Have a good week look out for a new posting next weekend.

Tax BLUNDER- Quiz

Tax BLUNDER » exam maker

Tax BLUNDER

This week the British financial press and news reports have been full of new of a scandal over a blunder involving personal taxation. It appears that the Inland Revenue, the organization responsible for collecting taxes, has made a huge mistake when collecting income tax from millions of people. As you can imagine this has caused huge worries to ordinary people as the government is not informing everyone who is affected immediately but will be sending out letters over a period of a few months so the tension is rising.
Many organizations have been devising template letters for people to send to the Inland Revenue when they are asked to pay back money.
The positive side of this is that quite a lot of people will be getting refunds for over paid money.
Your tasks for this week-
Please read the article and then do the quiz which will follow in the next posting.
Then I would like you to do two pieces of writing and ask your teacher to mark them for you. Or send them to me as comments on this blog and I will mark them for you.
Writing task one.
You have received a letter from the tax authorities saying that they made a blunder and you owe them money. Pick one of the templates which you can find by following this link and use it to write a letter to the tax man.

Writing task two
You have received a refund of £500.00 write an email to your best friend telling them how you will spend the money.

This week's quiz on the USA Housing market

Mortgage modification and negative equity » exam maker

Mortgage modification and negative equity

This week I have two new financial expressions for you “negative equity” and “a mortgage moderation.” Check out their meaning on my squidoo lens.

These expressions come from a long Guardian article on the US housing market. The article reveals some shocking statistics about the property market in the US and also a very interesting and unusual way which the government is encouraging the lenders to use in the hope of solving this problem.

Is negative equity a big problem where you live? Discuss the “jamboree of delinquent borrowers” with your partner. Would people be interested in this type of help in your country or would they prefer to keep their financial problems private.
Read the article carefully and then try the quiz in the next post.

British Lifestyle report-quiz

British Lifestyle report » test maker

British Lifestyle report

Our word or phrase, of the week this week is disposable income. The guardian.co.uk article I have chosen explains what is happening on the British High Street and how consumers are choosing to spend their money at the moment.
Underwear, alcohol, pets and beauty treatments top the list, are these products important in your country too? Discuss how people in your country spend their disposable income.
Why is disposable income so important to economists? Discuss with your teacher and class.
Does the information in this article fit with your understanding of British Lifestyle ? Discuss with a colleague.
Have people in your class changed their holiday patterns because of the recession?
Write a short questionnaire, ask your class mates your questions and then prepare a report on this topic; do not mention names in the report, then give the report to your teacher for checking.

This week's Quiz

America s century is over - Guardian article » Online test maker

Structural problems of the US Economy

America's century is over, but it will fight on


This week’s Guardian article is a longer one than usual, it is about the structural problems in the American economy.


We have had quite a few of these negative articles in the press this week and I am not sure that so much negativity helps any economy.

What do you think? Discuss the following question with a fellow student or your tutor.

Does constant negativity in the press depress the people and the economy further?

There is a lot of good vocabulary in this article- check you know the meaning of the following words before you read the article and then answer the quiz which will be in the next post.

Deepseated
Pithy
Robust
Foreclosures
Liquidity
Stringent
Retrenchment
Bleaker

Looking forward to chatting again next week

Quiz for How the US economy is being 'Japanised'.

Is the US economy being Japanised? » exam maker

Financial word of the week: How the US economy is being 'Japanised'.-economic sclerosis

Financial word of the week: How the US economy is being 'Japanised'.-economic sclerosis