CITY VIEWS: HOW UPBEAT DO YOU FEEL ABOUT SIR RICHARD BRANSON’S LATEST FORAY INTO BANKING? October 26, 2009 JULIAN TAVORA CGD“As a consumer, it’s always good to have more options and more competition in the retail banking market. Branson’s name will add respect to the brand, but he is involved with many different things so will need to hire specialist talent to recognise the bank’s potential.” NISHA TAILOR RBC DEXIA“I am upbeat – [...]
EXPERT?VIEWS: IS THE VIRGIN BRAND ENOUGH TO DRAW CUSTOMERS TO BANK WITH BRANSON? October 26, 2009 GRAHAM HALES MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERBRAND“The Virgin brand has always managed to pull customers towards it. Every time the company enters a market it always embarks on a consumer championing. People expect to get a better deal with Branson, and picture it to be a bright, fun environment, which will draw customers in.” ANGELA KNIGHT BBA“Competition [...]
Former GCap boss Richard Eyre is in the race for Channel 4 chairmanship October 26, 2009 FORMER GCap chairman Richard Eyre has been short-listed for the role of Channel 4 chairman, a position Ofcom said yesterday it intends to fill within the next couple of weeks. The communications regulator is in the final interview stages to find a replacement for Luke Johnson, whose tenure as chairman of the state-owned broadcaster comes [...]
UKCoal sees production slump after worker death October 26, 2009 UK COAL said yesterday its third-quarter revenue fell 20 per cent on lower sales, and added it expected deep mine output for the year to miss its own estimates after a death at one of its mines hit production. The firm said the death of a 46-year-old man at its Kellingley site in north Yorkshire [...]
Posen: lack of credit could hurt growth October 26, 2009 POOR availability of credit to non-financial companies will lead to insufficient investment in the British economy and could harm the potential rate of growth in the future, monetary policy committee (MPC) member Adam Posen said yesterday. In his first public speech since joining the MPC in September, Posen said he was concerned about the ability [...]
Retailers forced to shut up shop as crunch bites October 26, 2009 THE lingering recession has forced almost 26,000 shops out of business, draining life from the economy and leaving hundreds of town centres pockmarked with empty premises, figures from The Local Data Company show. One in ten of the 251,462 shops in 705 town centres tracked by the data house closed up in the nine months [...]
Lehman-backed products cause collapse of ACI October 26, 2009 A THIRD UK company which sold investments backed by Lehman Brothers has gone into administration, after a Financial Services Authority investigation into the way “structured products” had been sold. London-based Arc Capital and Income (ACI) sold the complicated “capital guaranteed” structured products, some of which were backed by the collapsed US bank, via independent advisers. [...]
LSE CHIEF XAVIER ROLET PONDERS AN OVERHAUL OF INTERIOR DESIGN October 26, 2009 XAVIER Rolet, the dynamic new top dog over at the London Stock Exchange, just can’t seem to ease up in his quest to stamp his mark on the exchange. In the past few months, Rolet has been very busy – commencing talks to buy up rival Turquoise, axing the LSE’s long-standing M&A and PR advisers, [...]
RETAIL BANKS FACING EXODUS October 26, 2009 BRITISH high street lenders are facing an exodus of top talent to international investment banks if shadow chancellor George Osborne’s proposals to ban cash bonuses for retail bankers come to fruition, City headhunters warned last night. The proposals outraged the City, which decried the willingness of the Tories to put the UK at a disadvantage [...]
BAreadies itself for strikes this Christmas October 26, 2009 FEARS of a bleak?Christmas for British Airways (BA) were growing last night, after the Unite union said it would ballot its 14,000 cabin crew on strike action. Unions and BA management have been at loggerheads over cost-cutting at the airline, which is struggling to weather the financial storm. Nine months of talks fell apart yesterday [...]