BA axes 1,700 cabin crew as losses mount October 6, 2009 BELEAGUERED British Airways yesterday said 1,000 of its cabin staff have agreed to take voluntary redundancy, with another 3,000 moving from full-time to part-time work – the equivalent of 1,700 full-time job cuts. The carrier has been on a massive cost-cutting drive to return to profitability, with chief executive Willie Walsh and finance director Keith [...]
Turner: keep watch on foreign banks October 6, 2009 HOST states should be allowed to take “proportionate and measured” steps to restrict activities of bank branches if weaknesses are not adequately addressed by the home regulator, Financial Services Authority chairman Lord Adair Turner said yesterday. Speaking about the collapse of the Icelandic banks and the repercussions that had in the UK, he said host [...]
CITcreditors ask for better terms October 6, 2009 Bondholders in CITGroup, the stricken USlender, last night asked the firm to sweeten the terms of a planned debt-for-equity swap. Little Bear Investments, one of the bondholders, led calls for the firm to offer more if it wants the creditors to agree to ease their terms under a pre-packaged bankruptcy plan.
GREENSHOOTS October 6, 2009 HSBC chairman Stephen Green was at odds with his chief executive yesterday, declaring he believes the worst of the economic crisis is over. Green told Bloomberg: “The world economy has found a bottom.” Earlier in the week chief executive Michael Geoghegan said he expected a second downturn.
Former Boris deputy sentenced October 6, 2009 A former deputy to Mayor of London Boris Johnson was given a suspended jail sentence for “flagrantly and arrogantly” misusing his expenses. Ian Clement, 44, had admitted using his City Hall corporate credit card to buy lunches for himself and his lover. He was given a 12-week jail term, suspended for 18 months, and community [...]
Mongolia signs huge copper deal October 6, 2009 MONGOLIA is set to become a leading copper exporter after signing an agreement to develop a huge deposit near the Chinese border. The country has signed up with mining companies including Rio Tinto to mine Oyu Tolgoi, a copper-gold deposit in the south Gobi desert. The project’s earnings stand to make up one third of [...]
Lloyds and Barclays facing suit October 6, 2009 Lloyds and Barclays are facing a group legal action from mortgage borrowers who took out shared appreciation mortgages (SAMs) where they released equity from their houses. The High Court has granted an order for the group of more than 300 to sue the banks on the basis the products were unfair.
BoA slims down its CEO shortlist October 6, 2009 BANK of America is understood to have trimmed its list of internal candidates to take over from outgoing chief executive Ken Lewis to just two names. Consumer and small business banking boss Brian Moynihan, 49, and chief risk officer Gregory Curl, 61, are now thought to be the only current executives being considered for the [...]
ARE YOU ENCOURAGED BY TESCO’S UPBEAT OUTLOOK? October 6, 2009 RICHARD HUNTER HARGREAVES LANSDOWN “By definition Tesco comes with high expectations and these numbers have resulted in something of a hung jury. Whilst the well flagged strategy of expanding overseas is intended to offset an increasingly saturated UK marketplace, this comes at a cost.”TONY SHIRET CREDIT SUISSE “UK trading profit was £1,155m which was slightly [...]
ASSET MANAGEMENT’S FINEST ON SPARKLING FORM IN WESTMINSTER October 6, 2009 IT WAS off to the Banqueting House on Whitehall last night to celebrate with the great and the good of the asset management world, toasting themselves at the Financial News Awards for Excellence in Institutional Asset Management for having survived one of the most dire years the industry has ever seen. There were, of course, [...]