JONES GETS HARVEY NASH ROLE October 12, 2009 DIGBY Jones, the former head of employer’s body the CBI, has been named as senior adviser to recruiter Harvey Nash in his first role since quitting the government last year. A House of Lords cross-bencher and chairman of HSBC’s international business advisory board, Lord Jones will try to boost the firm’s overseas growth.
Climate body calls on UK to change tack October 12, 2009 BRITAIN needs a “step change” in its environmental policy to meet its own targets, the government’s chief climate change adviser said yesterday. Presenting its first annual report to parliament, the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) urged more aggressive intervention in the energy markets. To meet its own target of an 80 per cent reduction in [...]
Tootsies folds after Clapham House hires administrators October 12, 2009 TOOTSIES, the restaurant chain, yesterday fell casualty to the credit crunch after its parent Clapham House called the administrators in. Clapham House said it had put Tootsies into administration because “there was little prospect of the Tootsies business as a whole generating a profit in the near future”. The group said it was acting to [...]
Boris unveils plan to shape City’s future October 12, 2009 MAYOR Boris Johnson yesterday reiterated his desire to be a “champion for London” as he unveiled a definitive strategy to improve the capital and promote the City’s competitiveness as a global economic powerhouse. Johnson’s three-pronged strategy includes interlinked documents on the capital’s overall strategic development, transport and economic development. He said he was “determined to [...]
BAE secures Saudi Typhoon support deal October 12, 2009 BAE Systems, Europe’s biggest defence contractor, yesterday said it had signed a three-year deal to provide support and maintenance for Typhoon warplanes sold by Britain to the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF). BAE, one of three major contractors involved in building the multirole Eurofighter Typhoon, said it had agreed to provide a “full availability service [...]
FORSALE: 16BN OF UK STATE HOLDINGS October 11, 2009 PRIME Minister Gordon Brown will today signal a programme of asset sales intended to reduce the government’s debt mountain as part of his campaign to demonstrate he is dealing with the problems facing the UK economy. Speaking today in the City, Brown will announce plans to sell upwards of £16bn of non-financial assets, including the [...]
Split-caps survivor in come-back October 11, 2009 RODERICK “Rolly” Crawford, who has not held a senior job in the City since being implicated in the high-profile split-caps scandal two years ago, has emerged as the front-runner for the chief executive role at investment bank Fairfax. Sources told City A.M. yesterday that Crawford is the favourite to take over from current Fairfax boss [...]
Hedgies plot new directive October 11, 2009 REPRESENTATIVES of the hedge fund industry will this week put forward an alternative to the European Commission’s (EC) alternative investment fund managers (AIFM) directive, which they say would devastate Europe’s hedge fund industry. The Alternative Investment Managers’ Association (Aima) has been leading lobbying efforts to revise the directive and believes that it has secured sufficient [...]
Era of cheap mortgages is gone forever October 11, 2009 WITH official interest rates stuck at rock-bottom levels, consumers could be forgiven for wondering why mortgage rates remain so high. The answer, I’m afraid, is that the era of excessively cheap mortgages is gone forever in the UK. Over time, this will be no bad thing but in the short term it will prove cripplingly [...]
Barclays mulls 4bn sale October 11, 2009 Barclays is considering the sale of a portfolio of credit assets worth £4bn as it continues to clean up its balance sheet in an attempt to further reassure investors. A sale would follow last month’s deal in which the bank effectively ring-fenced $12.3bn (£7.8bn) in risky credit market assets by packaging them into a fund, [...]