BarCap puts up salaries as bonuses fall December 3, 2009 BARCLAYS Capital is planning to significantly crank up the basic pay it gives its 22,000 investment bankers in a move to keep pace with salary hikes from competitors. The bank is said to be preparing salary rises of up to 150 per cent, with the cap on basic pay to increase from £120,000 to £300,000 [...]
US taxpayers start to reap good returns December 3, 2009 US taxpayers have so far made about $11bn (£6.7bn) from the state bailout of troubled banks, with Bank of America becoming the latest firm to repay its bailout money. Bank of America surprisingly said on Wednesday night it would repay the entire $45bn it received from the government under the Troubled Asset Relief Programme (Tarp), [...]
Goldman justifies its bonus pool December 3, 2009 GOLDMAN SACHS has been holding talks with shareholders to justify its pay policy, which has seen the US investment bank set aside a $16.7bn (£9.4bn) bonus pool for staff over the first nine months of 2009, it emerged yesterday. Goldman has also put a detailed 14-page memo up on its website, detailing its remuneration scheme. [...]
CITY VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THE ROW OVER BONUSES AT RBS? December 3, 2009 ANDREW CRAWFORD INTUITION“I think RBS is stuck between a rock and a hard place and government should never have bought up the bank in the first place. Now RBS can’t award the bonuses, but without them it will lose its ability to remain competitive.” BEN REED AXIS CAPITAL “I think that the most the government [...]
SARKOZY BOTTLES IT December 3, 2009 FRENCH President Nicolas Sarkozy sparked a fresh diplomatic spat with London after he pulled out of a visit to Number 10 Downing Street yesterday. Sarkozy had been due to meet Prime Minister Gordon Brown after a tumultuous week in which he crowed over the appointment of Frenchman Michel Barnier to the EU finance brief. French [...]
New Look hires new chair as it prepares for an IPO December 3, 2009 HIGH STREET fashion chain New Look yesterday gave the strongest signal yet that it was preparing for a stock market flotation, by hiring City veteran John Gildersleeve as chairman. It is said that Gildersleeve will pocket a substantial “golden hello” to steer the company through its widely-expected IPO. Gildersleeve has previously chaired music group EMI [...]
Peugeot is in talks with Mitsubishi December 3, 2009 PEUGEOT CITROEN, the French carmaker, said yesterday it was in talks with Japanese group Mitsubishi about a “strategic partnership”. The move would see the the pair – who have already teamed up in Russia to develop electric cars and four-wheel drives – focus on designing and manufacturing cars for first-time owners, particularly in emerging markets [...]
Seligman joins BG?Group board December 3, 2009 Oil and gas giant BG Group yesterday said Mark Seligman had been appointed as a non-executive director at the company, with immediate effect. Seligman is currently senior advisor to Credit Suisse. He is the ex-chairman of UK investment banking at Credit Suisse and a former member of the bank’s global investment banking executive board. A [...]
Esporta appoints new chief exec December 3, 2009 A retail expert is limbering up to become the new boss of health club group Esporta. Esporta said former Somerfield supermarket chief operating officer John Cleland would take over as chief executive from 14 December. Cleland, 44, has also held senior roles at DIY chain B&Q and US supermarket group Wal-Mart in the UK and [...]
AstraZeneca splashes out December 3, 2009 DRUG firm AstraZeneca has snapped up the rights to an experimental anti-depressant to boost its line-up of new medicines and lift its position in that area of the drugs market. AstraZeneca, UK’s second-largest pharmaceutical company, said it struck a $1.24bn (£749m) licence deal with US biotechnology group Targacept for its TC-5214 drug for major depressive [...]