What the other papers say this morning – 12 May 2014 May 11, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Fraud office steps up Barclays probe Bob Diamond, John Varley and other senior members of Barclays’ former management are set to be questioned under caution by the UK’s Serious Fraud Office, in an acceleration of its probe into alleged corrupt arrangements in Qatar as part of the bank’s emergency cash call in 2008. [...]
UK firms getting stronger despite commodity fall May 11, 2014 THE TURMOIL in the commodities markets knocked £47.4bn off yearly revenues reported by the biggest London-listed companies in the last quarter, disguising a steady recovery in other firms’ trading, research out today claims. Turnover at FTSE 350 firms that reported annual figures by the end of March fell 1.5 per cent to £1.51 trillion, The [...]
London is the super-rich capital of the world with 72 billionaires May 11, 2014 LONDON is now home to 72 billionaires, making it the world’s capital city for sterling billionaires and giving the UK the highest number of super-rich residents per head in the world. The number of British-based billionaires has exploded in the last decade, rising from 30 to more than 100. However, Alisher Usmanov has lost his [...]
Elderly face paying £140,000 bill before reaching social care cap May 11, 2014 ELDERLY people face spending around £140,000 on residential care before they hit the cap on social care costs, the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries (IFoA) warned in a report released today. The sum is almost double the £72,000 figure the cap will be set at when it comes into force in 2016 and could increase [...]
Market authority set to greenlight Sky Europe deal May 11, 2014 THE UK’s newly established Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) yesterday said it would likely greenlight a deal by Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox to consolidate its pay-TV European holdings were it to be approved by the EC. In 2010, European authorities approved News Corp’s bid to take full control of BSkyB. Murdoch is said to [...]
Samsung’s chairman rushed to hospital following heart attack May 11, 2014 SAMSUNG Electronics’ chairman Lee Kun-hee, the man overseeing the flagship subsidiary of South Korea’s biggest company, was rushed to hospital on Saturday night after having a heart attack and yesterday underwent emergency surgery. Samsung Medical Centre, where Kun-hee is now recovering from the operation, yesterday said the 71-year-old had undergone surgery for a cardiac procedure [...]
Carphone and Dixons to reveal £3.7bn merger May 11, 2014 DIXONS Retail, the owner of Currys and PC World, and Carphone Warehouse will this week announce the final terms of their proposed £3.7bn merger in a deal that is expected to create a new FTSE 100-sized business from the two high street technology retailers. The companies are understood be planning to unveil details of their [...]
Geithner backs crisis bailouts May 11, 2014 A FORMER US treasury secretary has defended the country’s giant bank bailouts at the height of the financial crisis in a new book published this week. Tim Geithner has taken a beating over the past years for appearing too close to banks after he took the job in 2009. But in his book, Stress Test, [...]
If I can’t guarantee a referendum on Europe I’ll quit, says Cameron May 11, 2014 DAVID CAMERON has promised he will quit as Prime Minister if he is unable to deliver a referendum on membership of Europe in 2017. In an interview with the BBC’s Andrew Marr yesterday, Cameron said he would not lead a minority government in the Commons after the 2015 election if he could not guarantee a [...]
Co-op Group clings onto vital stake in its bank May 11, 2014 HEDGE funds backing the Co-operative Bank have helped plug the latest £400m capital hole at the troubled lender, increasing their own stake in the bank. The Co-op Group’s stake in the bank has been cut from 30 per cent to 20.2 per cent. As a result, the group does not have to pay even more [...]