Heat is on at RBS as bonus verdict looms February 8, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) has locked horns with the Treasury in ongoing talks over the size of its bonus pool, which is expected to hit up to £1.4bn this year despite the bank’s heavy losses and the angry populist backlash against weighty City payouts. Chief executive Stephen Hester has repeatedly stressed the importance of [...]
Toyota Prius likely to be recalled over brake fault February 8, 2010 TOYOTA is expected to recall thousands of Prius hybrid cars in Japan and the US in the next few days to fix a fault with the brakes. The Japanese carmaker has already recalled more than 8m vehicles worldwide with faulty accelerator pedals. The company’s president, Akio Toyoda, publicly apologised for the problems on Friday. The [...]
Barnier pledges fair financial overhaul for EU February 8, 2010 MICHEL Barnier has pledged to take a balanced approach to overhauling financial regulation in Europe, City A.M. can reveal. The French politician, who has been appointed EU internal markets commissioner, faces a vote tomorrow to ratify his role along with 25 other commissioners. He has made a series of special pledges in a bid to [...]
Darling aides used officials to hurt Tories February 8, 2010 THE Tories yesterday accused Alistair Darling’s special advisers of using neutral civil servants to help mount party political attacks. Memos released under the Freedom of Information Act show that aides to Darling asked Treasury officials to cost Conservative policies to help discredit them. Francis Maude, shadow minister for the Cabinet Office, has written to cabinet [...]
Barclays chief set for grilling February 7, 2010 BARCLAYS chief executive John Varley is expected to echo president Bob Diamond’s defence of big banks when he appears before the Treasury Select Committee tomorrow. Varley, who will be quizzed as part of the committee’s “too important to fail” inquiry into the banking sector, will insist that large institutions with the ability to buy and [...]
Payzone cuts debt by sale of stake to Duke Street February 7, 2010 PRIVATE Equity firm, Duke Street, has acquired a majority stake in Payzone after investing €45m (£39m) into the mobile phone top-up and cash machine group. The debt-for-equity deal reduces Payzone’s debt from €320m to €82m and sees the formation of a newly established company, funded by Duke Street and its lenders. Duke Street will hold [...]
ELECTION2010 February 7, 2010 Expenses MPs must be tried Home secretary Alan Johnson yesterday said that MPs facing trial over their expenses claims should not use “parliamentary privilege” as a “get out of jail free card”. He said it was vital that Labour MPs Elliot Morley, David Chaytor and Jim Devine were treated in a similar fashion to the [...]
Baugur ends in liquidation February 7, 2010 THE UK arm of Icelandic retail investor Baugur has finally gone into voluntary liquidation, offering a glimmer of hope to its creditors and former employees. PricewaterhouseCoopers, which has looked after the group’s affairs since it collapsed a year ago, said it had recovered funds which would be distributed to unsecured lenders. PwC freed up £1.3m [...]
Hands: New York hearing will mean retention of tax status February 7, 2010 TERRA FIRMA’S legal battle with Citigroup took a fresh twist over the weekend when boss Guy Hands claimed the case would have to be heard in New York as he cannot enter the UK for tax reasons. The colourful entrepreneur is embroiled in a bitter dispute with Citi. He claims the bank misled him in [...]
MEP says hedgie directive will block funding for start-up firms February 7, 2010 EU plans to tighten regulation of hedge funds and private equity firms will starve Google and Amazon-style start-ups of funding, a Conservative MEP has warned. Syed Kamall said proposals to restrict European investors from putting money into Asian or American funds under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers directive could result in retaliatory measures, where overseas [...]