Google ready to release mobile December 13, 2009 Google has released an experimental mobile phone to employees, with access to the public expected to be offered in January. Asking employees to test products has become an established tactic for the search engine giant. A phone from Google has been rumoured for a while, and could revolutionise mobile phone use, with people using social [...]
Metro Bank to launch December 13, 2009 Vernon Hill, a US financial entrepreneur, is close to launching a new bank, Metro Bank, next year with two branches in central London. The venture is set to go ahead if Hill gets approval from the City regulator the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Metro Bank would be the first bank to launch in the UK [...]
Accenture website drops Woods December 13, 2009 Consultants Accenture, the group which based its marketing around Tiger Woods, has pulled the golfer from its website, it said yesterday, while Gillette maker Procter & Gamble said it would phase him out of adverts. The two are the latest companies to reevaluate their contracts with Woods following revelations about his private life. Pepsi has [...]
Lazard takes the helm as Shell looks to sell assets December 13, 2009 OIL giant Royal Dutch Shell has appointed investment bank Lazard to sell its Swedish unit, while rival BP is looking to sell its French petrol stations, it is understood. Shell is hoping to sell off its Swedish business, which includes a refinery in Gothenburg, a marketing arm, and its network of more than 400 gas [...]
Tories claim a doubling of low income families facing 90 per cent tax rates December 13, 2009 THE number of low-income families facing marginal tax rates of more than 90 per cent has doubled in the recession and is set to rise further, the Conservatives claimed yesterday. The Government had buried figures in its Pre-Budget Report last week showing that 70,000 low income families are facing the marginal tax rates, more than double [...]
UK economy can ill afford to lose £61bn in taxes December 13, 2009 The introduction of a new 50 per cent levy on banks paying bonuses above £25,000 is one of several recent measures – including the incoming 50p tax band and global transaction tax proposal – that have been perceived to be an “attack” on the City. We all acknowledge the real public anger that exists as [...]
Partygaming mulls a £2bn tie with Bwin December 13, 2009 ONLINE poker group PartyGaming is understood to be in talks with Austrian rival Bwin Interactive Entertainment about a potential £2bn tie-up. PartyGaming is believed to have held “on-off talks” since the summer with Vienna-based Bwin about a possible “merger of equals”. The firm is thought to be keen to grow in sports betting, a sector [...]
BILL OF THE WEEK December 13, 2009 IT SEEMS there’s a new trick on the canny corporate’s radar – the Christmas client breakfast, which is easy to book, cheap as chips (well, in comparison to an evening blowout, anyway) and doesn’t leave you with a sore head for the next three days. Take this group, for example, who turned up to swanky [...]
VETERAN LAUDS BIG-HEARTED CITY FOR SHOWING SOME GIVE AND TAKE December 13, 2009 AMONG the throng of eager banker-bashers busy giving the City what for at the moment, it’s good to see one of our own returning as good as he gets. Veteran Brian Winterflood, chair of the market-making firm of the same name, has taken on a new role in the past few weeks as ambassador for [...]
Timis denies move towards listing December 13, 2009 Advisers for African Petroleum, the Liberia-focused oil company headed by controversial tycoon Frank Timis, yesterday denied reports that it was seeking a stock exchange listing. They said: “At no point has African Petroleum applied to the exchange to list the company. Furthermore there has been no contact whatsoever from the exchange to African Petroleum.” The [...]