Patrick Hosking

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking wants banks to work at weekends

• 12 May 2003

Shops open, planes fly, and newspapers get printed at the weekend. So why can't banks hire a few people to process their clients' cheques between Friday and Monday?

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking grapples with the politics of envy

• 05 May 2003

The shareholders rebelling against excessive boardroom pay were not a mob, consumed by the "politics of envy", but mostly elderly people who generally approve of capitalism

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking coos over Brown's baby bonds

• 21 April 2003

Politicians normally rob future generations to please existing voters. So there's something noble about Brown's baby bonds, helping people who won't vote until he's nearly 70

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking finds insurance fat cats unashamed

• 14 April 2003

We need big shareholders in top companies, such as the Pru and Legal & General, to curb the bosses' gravy train. But how can they when they pay their own executives so much?

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking finds his aunt's nest egg

• 07 April 2003

At the HSBC extraordinary general meeting, the directors' level of absenteeism was 48 per cent. Would this be tolerated in an HSBC branch or call-centre?

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking asks who decides executives' pay

• 31 March 2003

Attempts to regulate boardroom pay have spawned an entirely new industry: one company has hired five firms of consultants to advise on the pay of just four executives

The business - Patrick Hosking raises the alarm: don't trust the bank

• 24 March 2003

Is it possible that a time bomb is hanging over us all and that it could cripple the banking system of the west, threatening billions of savers? Asks Patrick Hosking

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking

• 17 March 2003

Whatever their losses on junk bonds and the like, banks can still rely on credit cards to pull in mouth-watering profits. And our inertia and ignorance are partly to blame

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking applauds a barbarian at the Bank

• 10 March 2003

If Abbey National made so many mistakes with its shareholders' money, why is it that the non-executive directors are still drawing their fees?

Business

The business - Patrick Hosking praises a fat cat's honesty

• 24 February 2003

It's true that private shareholders ask ignorant questions at company AGMs, but that's mainly because directors put out reports full of jargon and obfuscation