Killing the goose that lays Golden eggs December 7, 2009 HERE are a few facts that Chancellor Alistair Darling should bear in mind as he prepares to hit the financial services industry and high earners with even higher taxes on Wednesday. The top 10 per cent of earners are already set to pay 53.6 per cent of income tax in 2008-09; the top five per [...]
Fed: US economy fragile December 7, 2009 THE US economy is improving but remains extremely fragile, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said yesterday. Speaking at the Economic Club of Washington, he also reiterated the Fed’s stance that the current environment of ultra-low interest rates would persist for “an extended period”. He noted that inflation could remain subdued but that the unemployment rate [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 7, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES APAX PAYS £975M IN MARKEN BUY-OUTApax Partners will today announce the £975m buy-out of Marken, the provider of distribution services to the pharmaceutical industry, generating big profits for its management and Intermediate Capital Group, which acquired the company in 2007. The acquisition of Marken is the biggest private equity deal in the UK [...]
UBS travel ban on advisers lifted December 7, 2009 UBS has lifted a ban on Swiss-based client advisers travelling abroad, provided they agree to stick to company guidelines. The bank made the decision in April to stop all staff with client contact in international wealth management from travelling on concerns they could be detained by foreign authorities amid a high-profile tax case in the [...]
S&Pputs Greece on credit watch December 7, 2009 Standard and Poor’s yesterday put Greece on negative credit watch to reflect its view that the fiscal consolidation plans outlined by its new government are unlikely to secure a sustained reduction in fiscal deficits and the public debt burden. The country’s debt stands at more than 110 per cent of GDP.
USconsumer credit decline slows December 7, 2009 Total US consumer credit fell by a smaller-than-expected $3.51bn in October, Federal Reserve data showed yesterday, as consumers borrowed to buy big-ticket items. October consumer credit outstanding fell at a 1.69 per cent annual rate to $2.48 trillion. September’s figures were revised to show an $8.77bn drop.
Details of RBS pain revealed by Treasury December 7, 2009 The full extent of the Royal Bank of Scotland’s stricken assets were made public yesterday, when the government published details of the insurance scheme set up to stabilise the bank. The Asset Protection Scheme (APS), which will insure £282bn of the bank’s assets, covers £15.4bn of residential mortgages, £80bn of loans, £39bn of derivatives, and [...]
Foreign banks urged to lend to UK firms December 7, 2009 FOREIGN banks were yesterday asked to provide billions of pounds in loans to cash-strapped small businesses at a secret meeting with chancellor Alistair Darling and business secretary Lord Mandelson. The government lobbied senior executives from Goldman Sachs, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, UBS, and BNP Paribas at a covert meeting in a bid to get [...]
GLOBAL TRADE TUMBLES December 7, 2009 PASCAL LAMY, the head of the World Trade Organisation, warned yesterday that global trade looks set to drop by an “unprecedented” 10 per cent or more for the year. He said that governments had made progress in tackling the downturn, but that much remained to be done.
BANKS BRACED FOR 1BN WINDFALL TAX December 6, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling was this weekend mulling a £1bn windfall tax on the banks as part of a “class war” strategy to depict the Tories as a party for the “rich”. The windfall tax, versions of which were still being worked on by officials last night, is likely to be for a year only and [...]