Brown hints at permanent short-selling ban

Speaking to the BBC’s Today programme, the Prime Minister said it was wrong for speculators to benefit from bringing down companies, and said he would take action to stop it. Last week, the FSA banned short-selling on a range of financial stocks after HBOS bank almost collapsed. The Government and regulator believe short-selling is causing problems in the UK market. The FSA has today threatened to name and shame and even fine short-sellers that fail to disclose their positions against the UK financial sector. Its ban will continue until January and Brown says this gives the authorities t...