BA staff in deal snub July 6, 2009 BRITISH Airways’ (BA) cost-cutting plans were dealt a blow yesterday, as 2,000 cabin crew rejected a plan to cut 3,500 jobs, freeze pay and change contracts. The flag carrier is trying to save money after reporting a record full-year loss of £401m earlier this year. BA and unions will reopen negotiations, chaired by conciliation service [...]
EU capital plans near July 6, 2009 EUROPEAN regulators expect to unveil measures to force financial institutions to hold greater capital buffers within months, it emerged yesterday. EU finance ministers are today expected to back a draft report, recommending tightening up capital requirements to ensure banks are prepared for economic downturns.
Goldman man in theft case July 6, 2009 A FORMER Goldman Sachs computer programmer is facing trial over claims that he stole secret trading codes from the firm and published them on a German website. Sergey Aleynikov, 39, was arrested last week and yesterday saw his bail set at $750,000 (£461,000) over charges of “theft of trade secrets”. Authorities have not yet confirmed [...]
For once Darling has had a good idea July 6, 2009 A LIVING will sounds like an oxymoron – dead wills are not exactly two a penny – but it merely refers to a set of instructions, known to all during the deceased’s lifetime, for dealing with his assets once he passes away. In the same vein, one proposal to be included in tomorrow’s White Paper [...]
Fink warns of hedgie war July 6, 2009 HEDGE fund guru and former Man Group boss Stanley Fink warned yesterday that European Commission (EC) plans on regulation of the alternative investment industry could spark a war with US hedge funds. Fink, who is chief executive of the ISAM hedge fund, said the EC’s draft directive would meet with a backlash from non-EU funds [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 6, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES SUN VALLEY SET TO CONSIDER PAID CONTENTA debate over paid content that has riven the newspaper business and spread across the rest of the media sector is expected to frame discussions at the annual confab of media and technology power brokers and entrepreneurs in Sun Valley this week. The US recession has forced [...]
Qataris tighten grip on Barclays July 6, 2009 Qatari investors have upped their stakes in Barclays with the conversion of mandatory convertible notes into common stock, booking paper profits of around £700m. The Qatari Investment Authority now has 7.38 per cent of the bank, while Challenger, which acts for Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani of Qatar Holding, has 2.84 per cent. [...]
Fiat to enter Chinese car market July 6, 2009 Italian carmaker Fiat is to enter the rapidly growing Chinese automotive industry which will see it make cars and engines there from 2011, in a joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC). The deal will see the two firms invest more than €400m (£344m) in the project, including the construction of a 700,000 square metre [...]
New GM may be launched by end of July July 6, 2009 A SENIOR figure in President Obama’s automotive task force said last night that GM could be relaunched as a new company by the end of the month. Steve Rattner said a judge’s ruling that GM can sell its assets to a government-backed company would clear the way for the firm to emerge from bankruptcy and [...]
MG Rover quartet slam call for probe July 6, 2009 A QUARTET of executives accused of asset-stripping in relation to their purchase of collapsed carmaker MG Rover yesterday described moves towards a probe by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) as “mystifying”. Business secretary Lord Mandelson has asked the SFO to decide whether a criminal investigation should be launched into the 2005 collapse of MG Rover, [...]