Government cuts private pension costs July 8, 2010 THE government yesterday outlined plans that will shave billions of pounds off the private sector’s pension bill, by reducing the amount that pension payments must rise in line with inflation. In future, payments for those on final salary schemes will rise in line with inflation as measured by the consumer price index (CPI), as opposed [...]
Coalition tells top suppliers to cut the cost of services July 8, 2010 FRANCIS Maude, the minister for the Cabinet Office, yesterday hauled in the bosses of blue-chip companies and asked them to cut the cost of the services they provide to the government. Nineteen chief executives, from the likes of Serco, BT, Logica and Vodafone, were summoned to the meeting and told to do their bit to [...]
Office For Budget Responsibility must be reformed, warns CEBR July 8, 2010 LEADING think-tank the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) has today called for urgent reform of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), saying it needs to establish its independence from George Osborne’s Treasury. Doug McWilliams, chief executive of the CEBR, said “drastic change” was necessary after the “chequered beginnings” of the OBR. The government’s [...]
BP is given a day to meet US demands July 8, 2010 THE OBAMA administration ratcheted up the pressure on BP yesterday after Admiral Thad Allen sent a letter to the embattled oil giant demanding that he be notified of every move it makes in responding to the Gulf of Mexico spill disaster. Allen, who is leading the Gulf operations for the US government, told BP that [...]
Obama’s bid to restore ban on deepwater drilling is rejected July 8, 2010 AN APPEALS court in the US has maintained a ruling made by a lower court to lift a six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling imposed by the Obama administration. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit made the decision only an hour after the arguments were made yesterday. The move comes as the Obama [...]
BMW revs up first half sales July 8, 2010 BMW, the world’s largest luxury carmaker, sold 13.7 per cent more BMW vehicles last month, outpacing more tepid growth at its Mini brand. The company sold 119,663 BMWs in June, bringing its first-half tally to 585,755 vehicles for a gain of 14.1 per cent. Mini only managed to sell 23,202 cars, or nearly 110,000 in [...]
Nortel group is fined £2.1bn July 8, 2010 REGULATORS yesterday took the unusual step of ordering administrators of the insolvent Nortel group to provide up to £2.1bn in financial support to help bail out its 42,000 pension fund members in Britain. The Pensions Regulator issued a Financial Support Direction against 25 companies in the telecoms equipment group, which was put into administration in [...]
Banks to skip bonus curbs, experts warn July 8, 2010 BANKS will easily sidestep the European Union’s crackdown on bonuses by raising base salaries and restructuring performance-related awards, consultants and senior politicians believe. The European Parliament yesterday waved through a punitive regime capping the cash portion of bonuses at 30 per cent and forcing banks to pay the rest in shares and contingent capital, with [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHO IS BEST PLACED TO REGULATE BANKERS’ BONUSES? July 8, 2010 CHARLES PREWER | RFIB GROUP “Ideally the banks would do it themselves. But some of them got too greedy and now it’s inevitable that someone else will step in, though they will never fully regulate bonuses. It should be the Bank of England overseeing this, not the EU. It’s the most undemocratic institution I can [...]
BA will grow from Madrid, warns Walsh July 8, 2010 WILLIE WALSH, the British Airways chief executive, yesterday reiterated his warning that the airline would grow in future at Madrid instead of Heathrow if the government failed to build the infrastructure needed to cope with rising demand for air transport. Speaking at the Institute of Directors (IOD), Walsh said the UK could compete effectively for [...]