City fears a distracted UK government may be unable to fight EU regulation June 10, 2009 FEARS are growing in the City that a weakened UK government may not be able to fight off strict European Union proposals to regulate the financial services sector. The UK government, led by chancellor Alistair Darling, has spent the last few weeks battling plans for the European Central Bank to take charge of a new [...]
FED EMAILS CRITICISE BoA’s LEWIS June 10, 2009 BANK of America boss Ken Lewis was criticised by Federal Reserve officials in emails to each other as he tried to back out of plans to buy failing peer Merrill Lynch in December, documents have revealed. Fed boss Ben Bernanke said Lewis’ threats to drop the deal were a “bargaining chip” while others said Lewis’ [...]
Investor rebellion rumbling over executive pay at Man June 10, 2009 INVESTORS in hedge fund manager Man Group could demand that the company revise its bonus scheme, after revelations that chief executive Peter Clarke was paid $14.4m (£8.8m) last year, despite shareholder return diving by 58 per cent. Ahead of Man’s annual meeting on 9 July, shareholders and advisory bodies were reviewing the firm’s annual report, [...]
BLOCKBUSTER BOOST June 10, 2009 FILM studio owner Pinewood Shepperton, chaired by ITV boss Michael Grade, was yesterday hopeful that it would win more commissions from Hollywood, after the Screen Actors Guild in America agreed a salary deal. The agreement comes after a year of heated debate over pay. Pinewood’s UK filming facilities have played host to the production of [...]
Biggest fall in oil use since 1982, says BP June 10, 2009 GLOBAL oil consumption in the developed world fell by 1.6 per cent last year — the largest drop since 1982 — and the decline is set to continue, said BP chief executive Tony Hayward. Presenting the firm’s annual Statistical Review of World Energy he said world oil consumption fell by 420,000 barrels a day in [...]
US banks must repay warrants June 10, 2009 THE TEN US banks who were given approval this week to start paying back $68bn (£41.6bn) worth of loans from the state will have to shell out another $5.1bn to redeem warrants held by the US Treasury if they want to be free of government restrictions. Credit Suisse estimates that the Treasury holds warrants – [...]
Four appointed to join BoE panel June 10, 2009 THE Bank of England (BoE) yesterday confirmed the appointment of senior business figures Roger Carr, David Lees, Mark Tucker and Harrison Young as members of its Financial Stability Committee. The governor and two deputy governors of the central bank also sit on the committee, set up earlier this year to beef up the Bank’s oversight [...]
Heartwood positive despite crisis June 10, 2009 Independently-owned wealth manager Heartwood said yesterday it had performed strongly over the past year despite challenging market conditions. Heartwood now has around £1bn of funds under management and administration, having added over £100m of net new client assets under management over the year. Chief exec Simon Lough said profits were ahead of last year, excluding [...]
Live Nation deal referred to CC June 10, 2009 The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has referred a proposed merger between Ticketmaster and Live Nation to the Competition Commission, amid concerns that it would result in reduced competition. Ticketing agent Ticketmaster and venue operator of promoter Live Nation have an agreement to work together until December 2009.
Wolseley back in the FTSE 100 June 10, 2009 FTSE Group said yesterday that heating and plumbing distributor Wolseley, global private equity firm 3i Group and the London Stock Exchange Group will be joining the FTSE 100. In the rebalance, Drax Group, Whitbread and Amlin will all leave the UK’s blue chip benchmark. The changes to the indices take place following FTSE’s UK Index [...]