REGULATING BANKS

Watch this interview. What does the interviewee say about regulating banks ? What recommendations does he make ? What does he say about the rating agencies ? How does he feel about regulating compensation ?

Check the meanings of the following words and expressions:

mighty
to pick themselves up off their knees
What would she/he make of this ?
(to be)concerned about
to keep a lid on that
to prevent (that) from happening again
incentive systems
to steer and guide
to lessen
the key driver
to subsidise
decrying
households
cooking up
to have a stake (in)
focused on
to shape
to figure out
betting on
in turn
to be driven by
capital gains
endorsement
deeply worrying
to shrink
the top bracket
the same holds true
to be sued for negligence
to lead to
injecting more competition into
...that has been developed over decades
overnight
to be stuck with
for the foreseeable future
to put too much of the blame on...
to let (someone) off the hook
It comes back to the fact that
(to be)worthwhile
to drill down
an outcome
within a framework
If you will (si on peut le dire)
to circumvent the rules
going forward
(to) undermine
to rely more on...
far-sighted
No matter how much...
to head off a crisis
(to) express great concern
to be empowered
I would differ with that
to fall victim to
to keep up with
to tame

MEETINGS : GETTING STARTED

If you find opening meetings intimidating, have a look at the following model :

'Okay, everone - let's get down to business.
Everyone seems to be here, except Mike, who sends his apologies.
Did everyone get a copy of the agenda ? Good.
As you know, the purpose of this meeting is to come up with some ways of streamlining the recruitment process.

You'll see that there are 3 points on the agenda. Firstly, we'll review the current recruitment process and try to identify the main problems. Then, we'll hear from Sarah, who's been speaking to our consultants about some streamlining solutions. And finally, we'll discuss which solution would be the most appropriate for the group.

Okay, at this point, I'd like to hand over to Jack, who's going to outline the current recruitment process.'

WRITING FORMAL LETTERS

Look at the following example of a formal letter of complaint. Key words and expressions are highlighted in bold.

Dear Sirs,

I am writing to complain about a package holiday in Dubai that I booked with your company and from which I have just returned. Such was my disappointment with the holiday that I am demanding a full reimbursement of the £700 that I paid via your website on 17 May 2009. I am convinced that you will consider my demand to be totally justified when you read the following facts, which would put any reputable travel company to shame.

The outgoing flight from Heathrow Airport on 2 June, was delayed by some three hours and no effort whatsover was made by your representatives to keep us informed of the expected take-off time, nor was any explanation given for the delay. Moreover, in spite of the length of the delay, when we finally boarded the plane, which seemed to be old and poorly maintained, we were treated somewhat rudely by the cabin staff. To make matters worse, there was no in-flight entertainment and the in-flight meals were neither tasty nor fresh.

However, the most disappointing aspect of the holiday was the Beach View hotel, which your website described as a "luxurious palace with stunning sea-views, a private beach, superior comfort and haute cuisine". Firstly, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that the Beach View has neither a beach nor a view, unless your consider a series of office blocks to be a desirable view. Secondly, your description of the hotel as being "luxurious" is outrageous since the hotel offers rather basic three-star accommodation and is clearly designed for low-budget travellers such as students and junior sales reps. As for your description of the hotel restaurant as "haute cuisine", this is a downright lie which merits the attention of the Serious Fraud Office, as does your dishonest claim that the hotel has a private beach.

Given the serious nature of the facts that I have outlined above, I should be grateful if you would reimburse me the full cost of this disasterous holiday within seven days. Should you require any further information about my unpleasant experiences, both on the outgoing flight and in the hotel, do not hesitate to contact me.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

John Spears

UBS, THE IRS AND SWISS BANKING

Watch this video and listen out for the following lexical structures:

To hand over
To be blacklisted
to shun
to stress
a crackdown
to look into
to be turned over
a whole bunch of
to pick up
on the heels of
to come clean
to come forward
a high stakes game

VOCAB & PRONUNCIATION: ORDEAL

An ordeal is a difficult and sometimes harrowing experience. Someone who is taken hostage would go through an ordeal. The experience may be so unpleasant and painful that the person involved may not expect to come out of the ordeal in one piece. However, the noun ordeal may also be used to stress how complicated or time-consuming a particular task was:
"Obtaining a residency permit really was an ordeal".

Have a look at this video, which focuses on the pronunciation of this word:

GRAMMAR RECAP: PASSIVE STRUCTURES

Passive constructions are commonly used in business English. Look at the following examples and notice how they focus on the object and the action rather than who (the agent) is performing the action. Passive verb-forms can be used with most tenses and are often found in written English such as reports, as well as presentations and progress reports.

The engines are assembled here.

The Comet model-range is currently being updated.

The finished product was being painted when we noticed the problem.

The project will have been completed by the end of next month.

Customers are going to be informed about the problem in writing.

The following passive structures are commonly used in spoken English:

I've been told that my services are no longer required.
We've been advised to invest in something less risky.
She was warned about the risk of drinking too much.
I have been given 3 days to come up with a solution.

LISTENING COMPREHENSION - FINANCIAL 'ANALYSIS'

Watch this video, which mocks the financial news channel CNBC.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
CNBC Financial Advice
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

THIS WEEK'S VERB : TO DEEM

To deem means to consider, to judge or to have as an opinion. It is a formal word, more commonly found in written English and particularly in contracts, newspapers articles and essays.

Look at the following examples of the usage of the verb to deem :

"The authorities have deemed it wise to intervene in this case."

"I hope that my application will be deemed worthy of consideration".

"Do you really deem it necessary to make such drastic changes ?"

BUSINESS ENGLISH VOCABULARY

What do the words in bold in the following Financial Times article mean ?

European business got through previous crises with a mixture of restructuring, denial and government intervention. A similar outcome seems likely from this crisis even if the speed and scale of the downturn are testing companies as never before.

Take German private engineering companies, renowned for conservatism, which even in the middle of last year were bullish and saw their orders rising by 2 per cent. By November the monthly growth was minus 30 per cent; by January minus 42 per cent. Now, the groups are cutting jobs, investment and fighting for survival – as they are across Europe.

For many big European companies, the most significant event in the last decade was the shift in ownership from governments or other national companies to private, often foreign, shareholders. This has seen a big rise in stakes held by US and UK investors, leading in turn to a broad push for more “Anglo-Saxon” corporate policies, as many continental Europeans call them.

According to Gerhard Cromme, chairman of Siemens, foreign capital “revolutionised the way Germans do business”. Across Europe, companies were forced to adopt more shareholder-friendly strategies and boards came under pressure over corporate governance issues, prompting investor revolts at the likes of Eurotunnel, the channel tunnel operator, and Deutsche Börse, Germany’s stock exchange. Financing arrangements changed as local lenders proved less willing to prop up domestic groups and foreign banks flooded in.

How much of that is now likely to be rolled back? Already – as in most parts of the world – the state is more active, both in taking stakes in companies and prodding them to do what the authorities would like, such as a French suggestion that carmakers should close no domestic factories. Foreign lenders have withdrawn from many countries and banks are being encouraged to lend locally again.

Restructuring is likely to be a dominant theme, with millions of jobs to be cut as profits slide. The question is how radical that restructuring will be. Although the automotive industry may be prime among those needing a shake-out, government support could stymie that. “I am worried that a lesson could be just that ‘you are too big to fail’, like Opel [General Motors’ European arm], rather than ‘you are too good to fail’,” says a director of one carmaker. But big names will still disappear across the continent, as Woolworths has from UK retailing.

Strategy will be made with an eye not just on shareholders but also on what governments and workers want. Wendelin Wiedeking, chief executive of Germany’s Porsche, hopes the days of shareholders seeking to tell companies what to do are over: “Nobody’s system is perfect but hopefully some of the lecturing will die down now.”

The UK is also showing signs of a change. Jeremy Darroch, chief executive of BSkyB, the broadcaster controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, accepts that short-term financial return is not all. In almost continental European terms, he adds: “I think that means having a focus on our customers, it means having a focus on our employees and it means having a focus on the broader stakeholder groups.”

Corporate governance improvements could, however, be reversed. “There is a danger that corporate governance slips down the agenda,” says Hans Hirt of Hermes, the influential UK investor. Others fret that state intervention could slow the internationalisation of boards that Europe needs, leading instead to more national appointees.

Hubertus von Grünberg, chairman of ABB, the Swiss industrial group, fears a time of “Eurosclerosis” in which businesses muddle through rather than reinvent themselves. “Europe, instead of finding something new to get out of the crisis like the US and Asia will do, could in fact go backwards.”

MIND THE TRAP : NORMALLY

In English, normally can only be used to refer to what is (or isn't) the usual, normal situation. Look at the following examples :

You don't normally chew gum. Why are you doing it today ?

I don't normally wear a tie to work, but today I've got an important meeting with a client.

I'm sorry about this - we don't normally have problems with the lift.

Normally cannot be used to express probability as in the French 'il devrait normalement être à l'aéroport maintenant'. In English, we would say : 'He should be at the aeroport by now'.

Equally, we say : 'You shouldn't have any difficulty finding us as we're right opposite the station.'

THE FUTURE OF FINANCE

THIS WEEK'S WORD : HENCE

Hence means 'that's why' or 'which explains'. It is a formal word that is usually found in written English.

Look at the following examples of the usage of hence :

Sales are continuing to fall; hence our decision to lay off 10 members of our sales team.

Global warming is having a serious impact and is even provoking natural catastrophes; hence the need to find more environmentally friendly sources of energy.

INVESTMENT WISDOM

Diseased = suffering from a disease
Livestock = farm animals such as cows and sheep
Unwise = imprudent, a bad choice (the opposite of wise)
Bunch = a group of, a number of (a bunch of flowers; a bunch of people)
Aggregate = to gather together a collection of items
Savvy = knowledgeable about, aware of the area concerned (the opposite of naive)

THIS WEEK'S 'FALSE FRIEND' : EVENTUALLY

In English, we use eventually to mean finally or in the end. Look at the following examples of the usage of eventually :

"It was a tough choice, but eventually we opted for the larger supplier."

"I looked for the file for over an hour, but eventually gave up."

"After failing his driving test several times, he eventually passed after taking more lessons."

AMUSING DEFINITIONS

Accountant
A person who works with numbers but lacks the personality to be an economist.

Bank
A place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it. (Bob Hope)

Bargain
Something you can't use offered at a price you can't resist. (Ned Kelly)

Broke
What you are after working with a financial advisor.

Budget
A mathematical system designed to remind you that you can't afford the kind of living you've grown accustomed to.

Bull market
A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.

Bull
What your broker uses to explain why your mutual funds tanked last quarter.


Charity
Something that begins at home, and usually stays there.

Credit
The preferred method of acquiring money for people who are too timid to steal and too proud to beg.

Derivatives
Financial weapons of mass destruction. (Warren Buffett)

Economist
An expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.

Financial Planner
A person whose phone has been disconnected.

Income tax
Capital punishment.

Inflation
A situation in which no one has enough money because everyone has too much money.

Inheritance
Will-gotten gains.

Loanation
Money given, typically to a close relative, which the provider considers a loan and which the recipient considers a donation.

Lottery
A tax on the gullible.

Market correction
The event that occurs the day after you buy.

Money
The most efficient labor-saving device ever invented.

Poverty
Having too much month left at the end of the money.

Power
The only narcotic regulated by the SEC rather than the FDA.

Quarter
A dollar, after taxes.

Retirement
The point at which one stops living at work and starts working at life.

Social Security
A federally mandated pyramid scheme.

Spendthrift
A person who considers it a sin to die rich.

Tax refund
A tactic devised by politicians to give you back some of your own money in such a way that you are supposed to think it's a gift.

Value investing
The art of buying low and selling lower.