BUSINESS W ITH PERSONALITY
ANTITRUST LAWS
TO BE TOUGHENED
“Increasingly, the common language of business
is the language of corporate finance.”
Ian Cooper, Professor of Finance
Corporate Finance Programme Portfolio
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31/05/10 till 04/07/10 is 103,725
G20 agrees
to prevent
a trade war
THE G20 economies pledged to steer
clear of an all-out currency war at the
weekend, as countries including China
and the USA agreed not to competitive-
ly devalue their currencies.
The G20 finance ministers, who met
in South Korea ahead of a summit next
month, said in a communiqué they
will “move towards more market deter-
mined exchange rate systems”.
US Treasury secretary Tim Geithner
said that China was committed to mov-
ing the yuan towards a market rate.
“They’ve got a ways to go but I think
they’re committed to do that, because
they recognise it’s in their interest,” he
told Bloomberg TV after the meeting.
The US is now unlikely to go ahead
with its plan to impose punitive tax on
Chinese exports, according to analysts
last
night.
The
House
of
Representatives passed a law last
month to treat the yuan’s exchange
rate as an illegal tariff.
The G20 said it will move to tackle
international trade imbalances but
stopped short of specific targets,
despite a call from the United States to
limit surpluses at four per cent of a
country’s gross domestic product.
The ministers did make progress on
overhauling
the
International
Monetary Fund, by shifting power in
favour of emerging nations.
Several analysts, including GFT’s
Martin Slaney, predict a jump in
European stock markets this morning
in response to the G20 agreement.
ALLISTER HEATH: P2; NEWS: P2, P23
BYMARION DAKERS
WORLD ECONOMY
▲
David Cameron (left) and his business secretary Vince Cable will both address the CBI
Pictures: REUTERS
DAVID Cameron will today unveil
plans to shake-up Britain’s competi-
tion regime, making it easier to pursue
anti-trust investigations and slashing
the amount of time it takes to com-
plete them.
Speaking at the annual conference
of employers’ organisation the CBI, the
Prime Minister will say the govern-
ment is “determined to help new
entrants challenge big business”.
“Today, some industries are too
uncompetitive, with significant barri-
ers to entry and obstacles to growth.
We’re going to challenge the status
quo,” Cameron is expected to say.
“We want to reduce the uncertainty
and the length of time it takes to make
a decision in the current system. Above
all, we want to help new companies
break into existing markets.
”
Business secretary Vince Cable, who
is speaking after the Prime Minister,
will confirm the merger of the Office
of Fair Trading and the Competition
Commission, and announce a raft of
reforms designed to create “a much
tougher and more streamlined compe-
tition regime”.
Cable is expected to say that anti-
trust cases take too long to carry out,
and rarely result in prosecutions, mak-
ing it harder for new firms to gain
market share from established players.
“Competition Act cases have taken
on average three and a half years
BYDAVID CROW
POLITICS
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www.cityam.com
Issue 1,248 Monday 25 October 2010
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BUSINESS WITH PERSONALITY
between the investigation to a final
decision. This is too slow – hardly the
‘efficient and timely processes’ that
the CBI has called for,” Cable will say.
Cable is also expected to announce a
wide-ranging review into corporate
governance, which will look at every-
thing from executive pay to takeover
bids.
Last week, the Takeover Panel rec-
ommended modest changes to the
takeover code, but the business secre-
tary wants to go much further in
restricting the rights of short-term
shareholders that buy up stock in
anticipation of a deal.
Neither Cameron nor Cable, howev-
er, are expected to address rising levels
of taxation and regulation, which
were both cited as the biggest prob-
lems facing firms in a CBI survey.
The CBI said that four issues – regu-
lation, taxation, infrastructure and
planning – overshadowed everything
else as considerations as to whether
firms should abandon the UK .
This week, the government will
announce a flurry of initiatives aimed
at moving the emphasis off of cuts and
on to economic growth, ahead of third
quarter growth statistics due later this
week, which some fear may be disap-
pointing.
Increasingly, the coalition is talking
up small business while bashing so-
called “big business” as it seeks to cap-
italise on a populist anti-City mood. ”
CBI CONFERENCE: P12-13
ROSS WESTGATE: P20
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