Asian markets remain subdued as Bank of Japan holds firm April 8, 2014 Asian markets are holding steady after the Bank of Japan maintained its stance on monetary policy and disappointed some investors with a refusal to hike purchases of risk assets. Japan's current account balance showed a surplus for the first time in five months in February, this was attributed to strengthening exports and an increase in [...]
Barclays settles Libor court case April 7, 2014 BARCLAYS yesterday dodged a potentially embarrassing court case that could have become a landmark in the Libor-fixing scandal, as it settled out of court with a firm that had accused the bank of mis-selling and fraud. In a deal worth around £25m, Barclays has restructured the debts of Guardian Care Homes (GCH), allowing the firm [...]
Coming to a high street near you: First look at Williams & Glyn’s logo April 7, 2014 WILLIAMS and Glyn, the bank being spun off from RBS, will use the below logo on its branches, City A.M. can reveal. The 314 sites across the country, with around 30 in London, are set to be rebranded for its launch as an independent challenger bank next year. The branding has been in the pipeline [...]
The UK economy is 5pc bigger than thought April 7, 2014 BRITAIN’S economy is as much as five per cent bigger than previously thought, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said yesterday. Changing measurements of areas like business investment and pensions savings will reveal huge changes in the economy compared with previous estimates, according to ONS presentation slides seen by City A.M. Firms’ research and development [...]
Labour’s £20bn pledge to devolve power to the nation April 7, 2014 LABOUR leader Ed Miliband will today unveil a central pillar of the party’s manifesto for 2015, with a plan to devolve control of £20bn to regions around the UK. Revealing the interim conclusions of Andrew Adonis’s growth review, Miliband will pledge to hand new powers over transport, housing, infrastructure and the work programme over to [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 08 April 2014 April 7, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES EU bank failures deal risks unravelling A landmark EU agreement on a common rulebook for handling bank failures is in danger of unravelling over the fine print restricting when a state can intervene to rescue a struggling bank. Britain is facing objections from several other member states as it scrambles to revise a [...]
Record growth across sectors as wages jump April 7, 2014 MANUFACTURERS and services firms are reporting the strongest investment and export growth in more than a century, according to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), suggesting they may begin to add more to the UK’s economic recovery. The group says services exports surged in the first quarter: 38 per cent more firms say outward trade [...]
UK tech stocks sink as US bubble fears hit market April 7, 2014 LONDON’S tech stocks stumbled yesterday after US jitters surrounding the sector late last week reached the City, having sent Asia’s tech stocks into freefall overnight. The FTSE 100’s three week rise abruptly ended as the index fell 72.7 points to 6,622.84 after a sell-off on a number of blue-chip tech stocks hurt investor sentiment. Microchip [...]
Billionaire Mike Ashley offloads a £218m stake in Sports Direct April 7, 2014 SPORTS Direct founder Mike Ashley is to sell £218m of his majority stake in the retailer in the latest twist in a series of events that saw him snap up a stake in House of Fraser just days ago. Ashley is selling up to 25m shares in Sports Direct through an accelerated bookbuilding run by [...]
JP Morgan reshuffles top execs at corporate and investment bank April 7, 2014 A NEW top team was appointed to head JP Morgan’s corporate and investment banking (CIB) arm yesterday in a major reshuffle of talent at the institution. Daniel Pinto became the sole head of the arm of the giant bank last month, when his co-head Mike Cavanagh quit the firm. Pinto sent out a memo to staff, seen by [...]