The Independent Commission on Banking has put forward a proposal to radically reform UK’s biggest banks by 2019. The Commission is recommending a physical separation of retail and investment banking operations. Such a move would mean that the bigger banks such as Barclays and RBS are in for some major changes. Approximately one-third of their total loans and investments, amount to £2trillion,...

China has become the number one market for the world’s most important commodities. Hard work from ordinary people across the Asian continent is reaping dividends. The renminbi-denominated letter of credit is being eagerly adopted elsewhere, with TF Review reporting that this now accounts to 8% of China’s annual trade, equating to US$100 billion. So will China’s financial system collapse...

The price of crude oil keeps surging, and it has now reached a two-and-a-half year high. The market is also expressing concerns about the weaking of the US Dollar, while trading markets today saw the Pound and the Euro rise further. An increase of US$ 1.29 saw the cost of a barrel rise to US$ 111.59. Sources claim that this increase combined with the weakening of the Dollar could result in what the...

US trade deficit was on the up during 2010 by the highest margin ever recorded in a decade by the Commerce Department. A 32.8% increase on the 2009 figures, the difference between imports and exports hit $497.8 billion, the highest deficit since the year 2000. Import was affected by the increase in purchases from China, which reached $364.9 billion for the year 2010.