City attacks Osborne over bonuses veto September 7, 2009 HIGH-PROFILE City figures including British Bankers’ Association chief executive Angela Knight yesterday hit out at shadow chancellor George Osborne’s suggestion that regulators should strip bankers of their bonuses this year. The man who most commentators expect to be the next chancellor of the exchequer said yesterday that regulators should axe bonuses in the banking sector [...]
TfL secures 1bn loan from EIB to help fund Crossrail September 7, 2009 TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has secured a £1bn loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance 40 per cent of its contribution to the Crossrail project, it will say today. “For the EIB to agree to the loan facility provides international recognition of Crossrail’s importance and is a further milestone in the delivery of [...]
Barclays in PPI ban row September 7, 2009 BARCLAYS yesterday launched a legal appeal against a Competition Commission decision to ban the sale of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) alongside financial products. Barclays told the Competition Appeals Tribunal that a point-of-sale ban was not justified by the evidence and also argued that the scope of the definition of PPI imposed by the Commission is [...]
OSBORNE TELLS FSA: VETO BANK BONUSES September 6, 2009 SHADOW chancellor George Osborne has told the Financial Services Authority (FSA) to end the era of the “mega bonus” even for banks such as Barclays that were not bailed out. He said all banks are regulated entities potentially underpinned by the taxpayer so they should all face bonus curbs. He stopped short of calling for [...]
Recovery on track, firms say September 6, 2009 THE UK economy is on the road to recovery but is still at risk of a “relapse”, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said yesterday. The BCC said in its September 2009 Economic Forecast that rallying stock markets, fiscal stimulus measures and sharp falls in sterling would support an initial upturn. David Kern, chief economist [...]
US claims win in Airbus row September 6, 2009 THE World Trade Organisation (WTO)has partly upheld a US complaint that European loans to Airbus worth $15bn (£9.13bn) were illegal subsidies, according to a confidential report. Now Baroness Ashton, the EU’s trade commissioner, says Europe is willing to negotiate with America in the long-running battle over state aid to Airbus and Boeing. The US filed [...]
UK set for square root-shaped recovery September 6, 2009 IT is almost official: we are out of recession. The economy is growing again, albeit at a snail’s pace, the equity and debt markets have bounced back, some firms are posting higher profits and there has been a mini-renaissance in City deal-making. All of which is great news but certainly not enough to uncork the [...]
RBS closer to Asian exit September 6, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is nearing a £200m deal to sell off its remaining Asian assets, as chief executive Stephen Hester continues his efforts to streamline the lender. The bank is to sell its retail and commercial banking businesses in India, China and Malaysia to emerging markets-focused bank Standard Chartered, sources said yesterday. The deal [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 6, 2009 THE SUNDAYSThe Sunday TelegraphG20 WILL CURB BANK BONUSESBonuses for bankers throughout the Western world will for the first time be subject to limits and checks as soon as next year after the G20 pledged to embark on an international crackdown on financiers’ pay. Banks will have caps imposed on the size of the bonus pot [...]
Munich Re to unify its brands September 6, 2009 The world’s largest reinsurer Munich Re is to bring together its reinsurance operations under one brand. “Munich Re will position itself as a comprehensive provider of all types of reinsurance and capital market solutions under the worldwide brand of Munich Re,” the company said in a statement. The group intends to take advantage of new [...]