Myners brands tax policy nonsensical October 25, 2010 FORMER?City minister Paul Myners yesterday urged bank shareholders to press management not to award “unreasonably high” bonuses in an effort to avoid a public backlash. Myners said that shareholders still had time to take action. But that if they did not, he feared that the perceived shortcomings in corporate governance would lead to the placing [...]
G20 meeting pushes US dollar to a 15-year slump October 25, 2010 THE US dollar fell to a 15-year low against the yen yesterday in the first day of trading after the G20 meeting of finance ministers in South Korea agreed to avoid a currency war that could derail the global economic recovery. The meeting however failed to convince traders who continued to sell the dollar while [...]
Russian web venture weighs up $876m float October 25, 2010 MAIL.RU, a Facebook investor and web business, is looking to raise up to $876m (£558m) by offering a 16 per cent stake in a planned London initial public offering (IPO) which could pave the way for other Russian internet firms to float. However, most of the money will go to the current shareholders rather than [...]
LVMH makes €2bn on stake in rival Hermes October 25, 2010 LVMH, the luxury goods giant, has made a paper profit of around €2bn (£1.8bn) after it revealed at the weekend it has built up a 17 per cent stake in rival Hermès International. Shares in Hermès, which makes silk scarves and Birkin handbags, rose as much as 17 per cent yesterday. The stock closed up [...]
Coalition’s pension shake-up is a major error October 25, 2010 The proposals for a new state pension are straight from the old Lib Dem handbook. The government wants to raise the state pension and pay it to everybody regardless of National Insurance contribution (NIC)?records. There are problems with the current system, but sustainable reform is possible. The contributory principle should be strengthened and the two [...]
Government eyeing a flat rate state pension system October 25, 2010 Britain’s coalition government is working on the introduction of a flat rate state pension, business secretary Vince Cable said yesterday. Cable gave no indication of the overall cost of the proposed reform, which aims to simplify the state pension system, reduce inequalities between men and women and encourage people to save for their pensions by [...]
A SOBERING WARNING FOR OSBORNE AS CAM SWINGS INTO ACTION October 25, 2010 CHAOS as the great and the good gathered for the annual CBI conference on Park Lane yesterday. The delayed start gave David Cameron a chance to prove he’s been reading those zeitgeist briefings: “Sorry for the delay,” he told the gathered business chiefs and hacks. “Like Ann Widdecombe, I had to be hitched by a [...]
UK Mortgage approvals at ten-year low October 25, 2010 MORTGAGE lending fell to its lowest level in a decade in September, the latest figures from the British Banker’s Association (BBA) showed yesterday confirming earlier figures produced by the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) last week. Gross mortgage lending stood at £8bn last month, 10.8 per cent lower than a year earlier. The number of [...]
US foreclosures set for probe as Bernanke admits concern October 25, 2010 FEDERAL Reserve Bank chairman, Ben Bernanke, said yesterday the initial findings of an investigation by US regulators into home foreclosures would be published in November. Bernanke said federal banking agencies were conducting an “in-depth” review of practices at the largest US mortgage lenders as he addressed a joint conference of the Fed and the Federal [...]
US house sales surge in September as prices fall October 25, 2010 HOUSE sales in the US soared 10 per cent in September as buyers capitalised on low prices and a rising number of foreclosures, figures released yesterday showed. Sales jumped by 4.53m from August to September the National Association of Realtors (NAR) said. Despite the recover, sales remained almost 20 per cent lower than a year [...]