THREE EX-BARCLAYS BANKERS CONVICTED OVER LIBOR SCANDAL

CITYAM.COM
TUESDAY 5 JULY 2016
NEWS
07
Irish leaders discuss Brexit turmoil
JAMES NICKERSON
@nickersonjw
POLITICAL leaders from the Republic
of Ireland and Northern Ireland met
yesterday in Dublin to discuss the
impact of the EU referendum.
The ministers met for the first
time since the referendum, after
concerns were raised on both sides of
the border about the ramifications
of the UK’s historic vote.
The North South Ministerial
Council meeting is also the first
since the May local elections and the
Irish general election, which was
held in February.
In Northern Ireland a number of
politicians have urged a
reunification referendum after a
majority of the electorate backed
Remain.
Like Scotland, Northern Ireland
voted to Remain but was overruled
by a majority in England and Wales
that backed Leave.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is expected
to propose an island-wide forum to
work on the common issues faced by
the Brexit vote.
Any planning is somewhat limited
as no formal talks on the UK’s new
relationship with Europe can start
until Article 50 is triggered, an
action Prime Minister David
Cameron has ceded to his successor.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny discussed the Brexit implications for Northern Ireland
Criminals being
taught crime
pays MPs warn
London Stock
Exchange gains
Vietnam fund
HAYLEY KIRTON
@HayleyLEK
GOVERNMENT’S current treatment of
confiscation orders is sending out the
wrong message about crime, a report
published today has warned.
In particular, the report by the
Public Accounts Committee (PAC)
criticised the Home Office for
routinely missing opportunities to
push for confiscation orders, which
allow proceeds from crimes to be
recouped from somebody who has
been convicted.
Just 5,839 orders were imposed in
2015-16, compared with 6,392 in
2012-13.
The MPs also noted that they were
unimpressed with the amount
actually being recovered from such
orders. Numbers from the Home
Office suggest that just £190m of the
total £1.9bn confiscation order debt
has a chance of actually being
collected.
“The number of orders imposed
has fallen and, according to
unaudited figures provided by the
Home Office, only a tenth of the
huge debt owed under such orders is
realistically collectable,” said Meg
Hillier, chair of the PAC. “This sends
an appalling message to criminals
who stand to benefit from crime –
and, equally importantly, to their
victims and taxpayers.
“Such relatively meagre returns do
nothing to alleviate public concerns
about crime, nor to encourage the
perception that justice is being
done.”
The Home Office did not respond
to City A.M.’s request for comment.
Confiscation orders have become
somewhat topical for the City after
former UBS and Citigroup trader
Tom Hayes was told to hand over
£878,806 in March after he was
convicted for Libor-rigging related
offences last August.
WILLIAM TURVILL
@wturvill
THE LONDON Stock Exchange
today welcomes a new entrant at a
time when several firms are
understood to be postponing and
calling off flotations after the UK’s
Brexit vote.
The flagship fund of investment
management company Dragon
Capital, Vietnam Enterprise
Investments Limited (VEIL), today
begins trading on the main market
with a launch price of 250p. As part
of the move, the fund is delisting
from the Irish Stock Exchange.
“Essentially what we’re doing is
bringing Vietnam to the world – via
London,” Dragon Capital’s
chairman Dominic Scriven told City
A.M. He revealed that the company
considered listing the fund on
markets in Hong Kong, Singapore
and New York, but chose London.
“You put those together and you
can’t improve on the LSE
proposition, a truly global
exchange,” he added.
Scriven estimated that the fund
has a market capitalisation of
$900m (£680m) and describes it as
“the biggest investor in the
[Vietnamese] stock market after the
Vietnamese government”.
In recent days, it has emerged
that the likes of Hollywood Bowl
and NewDay Group have put off
initial public offerings (IPOs) on the
London Stock Exchange, with last
month’s Brexit vote causing
uncertainty.
But Scriven said this was not an
issue for Dragon. “Our pressure
point has been to do it as early as
possible,” he said. “And we knew…
it was going to be late June and
then we go ‘oh, there’s a Brexit
vote’.” Therefore, the listing was
pushed back to the first week of
July.”
Gold the safe harbour in Brexit storm
Goldman Sachs say the price of gold will stay above $1,200 until at least 2017
JAKE CORDELL
@JakeCordell
HOLDINGS in gold funds have
jumped by one-third this year, as
investors squirrel their money away
in safe havens.
Data from Bloomberg showed
holdings in bullion-backed exchangetraded
funds (ETFs) swelled to 1,959
tonnes at the end of June, up from
1,458 in January, with a flurry of
new investments off the back of the
UK’s vote to leave the EU.
Gold prices hit a two-year high in
June, and the precious metal is now
trading at around $1,350 a tonne, up
26 per cent since the start of the year.
Prices have risen by $91 a tonne
alone since the referendum.
Michael Hsueh at Deutsche Bank
said: “We’re likely to see these trends
continue until the perceived risk of
recession recedes, we get a string of
better economic data, stronger
growth, less demand for bonds and
higher returns for equities — all those
things you associate with a stronger
recovery.”
Analysts at Deutsche Bank and
Goldman Sachs expect the price of
gold to remain above $1,200 until at
least the end of 2017.