Lords warn on trading rules March 31, 2010 POLITICIANS yesterday raised fears that European Union plans to regulate trading tools used by hedge funds and banks could create new institutions that are “too big to fail”. The European Commission proposes to tighten rules on over-the-counter derivatives by forcing more trades to be conducted through central clearing houses. Clearing houses provide stability because they [...]
Northern Rock head is making a small fortune March 31, 2010 THE head of nationalised bank Northern Rock was paid an astounding £1.3m in 2009, despite the group recording a loss of £257m last year. Gary Hoffman’s basic £700,000 salary was boosted by pension payments and the second tranche of a 1.2m compensation package for incentives lost when he left Barclays in 2008, according to the [...]
BANK OF ENGLAND BOFFIN KNOCKS THE SPOTS OFF THE COMPETITION March 31, 2010 WHEN it comes to pepping up weighty speeches with witty references to popular culture, the boffins from the Bank of England aren’t exactly known for being trailblazers. But Andrew Haldane, the Bank’s executive director for financial stability, tore his peers’ stuffy image to shreds in a speech in Hong Kong this week by managing to [...]
Sports Direct pulls bid for Blacks Leisure March 31, 2010 SPORTS Direct yesterday said it would not bid for Blacks Leisure because it couldn’t be sure that suppliers would support such a move, ending an increasingly hostile takeover battle. Sports Direct, controlled by Newcastle United soccer club boss Mike Ashley, said it was aware certain key suppliers would not support a takeover and said that [...]
Pinewood strikes upbeat tone despite profit slump March 31, 2010 PINEWOOD Shepperton, whose studios provided the backdrop for films such as the Bond saga and recent release The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus yesterday insisted its prospects are strong despite posting a 24 per cent fall in profits for the year. The firm saw its pre-tax profit slip to £4.5m for the year to December, compared [...]
Barclays seals purchase of Citi credit card arm March 31, 2010 BARCLAYS has successfully completed its acquisition of rival Citibank’s Italian credit card business, allowing it to take control of the divison’s 197,000-odd credit card accounts and €234m (£208.3m) of assets. Barclays said yesterday that its path had been cleared to complete the deal, originally announced last month, following receipt of competition clearance and consultation with [...]
US jobs data disappoints March 31, 2010 THE American private sector shed a net 23,000 jobs last month, according to the worse than expected Automatic Data Processing (APD) employment survey published yesterday, days ahead of the non-farm payrolls data tomorrow. The March figure was only a fraction better than the 24,000 jobs lost in February. The poor figure saw equity indices lose [...]
Productivity is improving in Britain March 31, 2010 ECONOMIC productivity improved marginally by 0.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2009 on the previous three months reflecting the UK’s return to growth. Nonetheless, whole economy output per worker fell 1.4 per cent on the same period in 2008 but this was still an improvement on the 3.3 per cent drop seen in [...]
Eurozone jobless rate hits 10pc March 31, 2010 THE Eurozone’s unemployment rate hit double digits in February and is expected to continue rising beyond its 11-and-a-half year high of 10 per cent in the coming months. The number of jobless in the 16-country area rose by 61,000 in February, taking the total number of unemployed across the region to 15.749m. The pace of [...]
Markets disheartened by mixed US figures March 31, 2010 MIXED US data dominated the markets yesterday after two other key macroeconomic indicators also disappointed investors. Business activity in the Midwest, as measured by the Institute of Supply Management’s Chicago business index, dropped to 58.8 in March from 62.6 in February, indicating a slowdown in the pace of expansion. This reading was well below the [...]