Sweden could ditch hedgie leverage caps October 21, 2009 Sweden, holder of the European Union presidency, wants to ditch a proposed borrowing limit for hedge funds in a move that will please Britain but anger France and others seeking tougher control of the secretive industry. Although hedge funds did not play a central role in the financial crisis, politicians remain suspicious of their activity, [...]
Goldman boss speaks up for bonus culture October 21, 2009 LORD Griffiths, the vice-chairman of investment bank Goldman Sachs, has put his head over the parapet after claiming the public should tolerate bumper City bonuses for the good of the UK economy. Griffiths, a former special adviser to Margaret Thatcher, said he was not “ashamed” of the generous reward policy at Goldman, which last week [...]
City Airport owner snaps up Gatwick October 21, 2009 THE UK’s second largest airport, Gatwick, is facing a massive shake-up after BAA yesterday sold it for £1.5bn to City Airport owner Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP). The new owner said that it wants to challenge rival Heathrow by overhauling services and could add new destinations. Michael McGhee, the GIP partner leading the acquisition, said the [...]
US SLASHES PAY OF BAILED OUT BOSSES October 21, 2009 BARACK Obama’s pay tsar is planning to slash the salaries of the top 25 executives at seven bailed out firms by a staggering average of 90 per cent. And total compensation for the 175 executives will fall by an average of 50 per cent, as the US Treasury Department’s special master of compensationKenneth Feinberg cracks [...]
Posties walk out as talks fail October 21, 2009 Royal Mail’s national strikes will go ahead as planned today after union bosses accused the company’s management and the government of undermining last-ditch negotiations. Dave Ward, the deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union (CWU), last night confirmed the strikes will go ahead, despite the talks over pay, jobs and modernisation having made some [...]
FSA and Brown take on King October 21, 2009 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) and Prime Minister Gordon Brown yesterday hit back at Bank of England governor Mervyn King who has said that banks which are “too big to fail” should be broken up to prevent another financial crisis. The FSA will publish a paper today which will argue that carving up retail and [...]
Myners disagrees with Obama on pay October 21, 2009 IT is almost funny how, in our topsy-turvy world, highly-paid bank workers are now being accused of exploiting the capitalist class in the form of bank shareholders. The latest to make that claim is Lord Myners, the City Minister, who described the present levels of bonuses as “a market failure”, by which he meant proof [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 21, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES MACQUARIE MOVING TO DRAPERS GARDENSMacquarie has agreed a deal to occupy one of the largest developments in the City of London, raising expectations of a surprise shortage of new office space in the Square Mile. The Australian financial group will move into the majority of the Drapers Gardens scheme near the Bank of [...]
Euro rises to 14-month high October 21, 2009 The euro rose above $1.50 yesterday for the first time since August 2008 as expectations that the Federal Reserve would hold US interest rates very low for some time yet continued to weigh on the dollar. The euro rose to $1.5003, its highest in about 14 months. It was last trading at $1.4989, up 0.3 [...]
Moulton to list new vehicle October 21, 2009 Jon Moulton, the high-profile private equity guru who recently quit AlchemyPartners is planning to raise £100m for his comeback firm Better Capital through a listing on the stock market