Housing market cools down yet prices stay high March 12, 2014 THE FEVER in the UK housing market appears to have eased last month, according to a widely-regarded survey published this morning. The number of new buyer enquiries in February rose at the slowest rate since March last year, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found. Yet supply remains extremely tight in the market, with new instructions to [...]
Shares hit new high at the Pru after bank deal March 12, 2014 INSURER Prudential saw its share price hit a record high yesterday after it unveiled a 17 per cent increase in operating profits. The group announced a strong set of results for 2013, including news that it has covered its solvency requirements 2.8 times over and increased its final year dividend by 15 per cent, to [...]
Bottom Line: StanChart’s Pru tie-up hints at a revival March 12, 2014 STANDARD Chartered has taken a kicking in the last 18 months, from fines for Iranian sanction busting to ending its astonishing 10-year streak of record profits. Shareholders have had it rough – after its recent peak of around £1,800 per share in May 2013, the stock is down around one-third to £1,203 at close of [...]
Contactless payments rising as TfL and retailers drive adoption March 12, 2014 CONTACTLESS payments on the high street jumped nearly 300 per cent last year, according to figures from Visa yesterday. Visa Europe’s director of contactless Mark Austin said that the 94.3m payments had been spurred by Transport for London’s use of contactless on buses last year and the increasing numbers of retailers installing terminals. Adoption from [...]
Lord Grabiner is called in to lead Bank forex probe March 12, 2014 LORD Grabiner was hired yesterday to head the investigation into the foreign exchange scandal at the Bank of England. The heavyweight’s appointment is intended to indicate how seriously the Bank takes allegations that its staff knew about manipulation or even encouraged such behaviour. Grabiner will lead the probe, supported by law firm Travers Smith LLP which [...]
City watchdog hires new boss to hunt down market manipulators March 12, 2014 TOP INVESTMENT banker Julia Hoggett will head up the investigations into market abuses like Libor fiddling and alleged foreign exchange fixing, the Financial Conduct Authority said yesterday. Hoggett joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch where she heads up debt capital markets commercial paper, covered bonds and green bonds in Europe, the middle east and Africa. She also worked at [...]
Innovia picked to coat the new plastic tenners March 12, 2014 THE BANK of England has picked Innovia Security to produce the plastic needed to make new polymer bank notes. The firm has won a 10-year contract to make polymer to coat new five pound notes, featuring Winston Churchill, and ten pound notes featuring Jane Austen. The notes will start entering circulation in 2016, with a [...]
Inside Track: Co-op board spat highlights need for change March 12, 2014 COMPANIES usually ban the use of social media sites to stop employees idling away work-time on frivolous gossip. In the case of the Co-operative Group, it might have been better advised to put a filter on the internet access of Euan Sutherland, its now-former chief executive. Sutherland took to Facebook on Sunday to denounce the [...]
Insurer calls for tax rebate in the Budget March 12, 2014 ZURICH is calling on the chancellor George Osborne to offer a tax rebate for income protection insurance, in a submission to the Treasury ahead of the Budget next week. Chief executive Gary Shaughnessy has written to Osborne to ask for a temporary annual tax-rebate of £50 per insured person and employer, in a bid to [...]
Rate hike for New Zealand March 12, 2014 THE RESERVE Bank of New Zealand brought an end to an era yesterday, becoming the first country with a G10 currency to raise its benchmark interest rate since 2011. Monetary policymakers cited the momentum of the economy, with 3.3 per cent GDP growth estimated for the year to March. The central bank is also concerned [...]