Germany recognises Bitcoin as a taxable currency August 19, 2013 Germany has become the first country to take an official stance on the use of online currency Bitcoin, recognising it as legitimate for legal and tax purposes. Berlin acknowledged Bitcoin as a “currency unit” and “private money”, according to German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and the online edition of the "New Osnabrück newspaper", citing a [...]
Investors confident central banks can wind down QE smoothly August 19, 2013 Expectations around the timing of central banks’ exit from quantitative easing and progress on a banking zone in the Eurozone are primary drivers of European investor activity, a survey by ratings agency Fitch has found. Nearly three quarters of investors are confident that central banks can tighten policies smoothly, although two thirds think concerns about [...]
Financial firms up salaries to prevent exodus ahead of bonus cap August 19, 2013 Nearly two thirds of financial services firms have upped employee salaries to stop a mass exodus as a result of the EU bonus cap, according to a survey by recruiter Robert Half. Some 65 per cent of the 100 chief financial officers and chief operation officers surveyed have increased salaries by an average of 20 [...]
Spanish prime minister may reshuffle government soon August 19, 2013 Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy may reshuffle his government in the coming months, El Confidencial has reported. The news site cites government sources close to the prime minister saying that Rajoy may use a reshuffle to regain the political initiative after being hit by the "slush fund" scandal. It is alleged that Rajoy and other [...]
Why HS2 won’t cost £80bn August 19, 2013 The Institute for Economic Affairs has a report out this morning on the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway that claims the real cost of the project will be "more than £80bn" – around double the government's current estimate. But even if you think HS2 is a costly white elephant, don't be taken in by these [...]
Statoil sells off oil fields to help meet capital expenditure targets August 19, 2013 Norway’s Statoil has sold off stakes in a number of key oil fields to Austria’s OMV for at least $2.65bn (£1.7bn). The value of the deal could increase by a further $500m to cover additional investments. This will help Statoil meet its capital expenditure target for the year, which it increased by $1bn to $19bn [...]
WPP subsidiary acquires majority stake in online rival August 19, 2013 Corporate communications agency Addison, a wholly-owned subsidiary of British advertising giant WPP, announced this morning it has acquired a majority stake in Emaxol, the holding company of online rival IR Group (release). IR Group (“The Group”) employs 65 people and specialises in designing, building, hosting and developing corporate websites and digital consulting services. Clients include [...]
Spanish banks’ “bad loans” hit seven-month high August 19, 2013 The Spanish central bank has said the level of “bad loans” on banks' balance sheets in June hit levels not seen since November 2012 (release). The Banco de Espana said loans to debtors with a high chance of default increased by 0.1 per cent month-on-month to €176.4bn (£150.5bn) in June. This brought the bad loans [...]
Hopes for Japan-Russia peace deal August 19, 2013 The deputy foreign ministers of Japan and Russia are meeting in Moscow today to strengthen cooperative ties in a further step towards resolving a territorial dispute which stopped them from signing a peace treaty after World War II. The meeting between Shinsuke Sugiyama and Igor Morgulov follows an agreement between Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe [...]
Kentz share price jumps by a quarter on takeover rejection August 19, 2013 Shares in engineering group Kentz have rocketed up nearly 25 per cent on the news it rejected a takeover offer from rival AMEC. Kentz said the offer of 565p to 580p per share – representing as much as £680m total – undervalued the company. The company announced it was not considering any offers, including another [...]