Carter under attack over Digital vision June 16, 2009 CRITICS were yesterday lining up to say that Lord Carter’s Digital Britain Report had failed to prepare the nation for a digital future. The communications minister, who is leaving the government this summer, outlined plans to use part of the BBC’s “switchover surplus” – money earmarked to pay for the digital switchover – and a [...]
Q & A : WHAT DID THE CARTER REPORT DELIVER? June 16, 2009 Q. WHAT DOES THE REPORT MEAN FOR REGIONAL NEWSPAPERS A. Struggling regional newspaper owners like Johnston Press, Trinity Mirror and DMGT had been hoping for a relaxation of merger rules, which would have led to scores of cost-saving mergers across the industry. But the Office of Fair Trading says the rules should stay as they are Q. WILL IT LEAD TO BROADBAND FOR ALL?A. It’s unlikely. It proposes universal access to 2Mbps broadband, which is actually very slow but fast enough to watch [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD PART OF THE BBC LICENCE FEE GO TO COMMERCIAL BROADCASTERS? June 16, 2009 DAVID MAYNARD UBS“If the BBC is going to remain competitive it’s going to have to pay enough to keep the best people at the channel. I think it should keep the money. At the end of the day if they don’t pay enough, their best staff will defer to rivals who will.” RISHI PATEL RBS [...]
Tchenguiz not backing down June 16, 2009 PROPERTY tycoon Vincent Tchenguiz yesterday refused to adjourn a general meeting of shareholders in Bramdean Alternatives, the listed fund for which he is tussling for control, while a leading corporate governance group warned his actions could give rise to potential conflicts of interest. The announcement comes after Nicola Horlick, the manager of Bramdean Alternatives, on [...]
More cheer for hedge funds as liquidations fall 50 per cent June 16, 2009 THE pace of hedge fund closures slowed in the first quarter, falling by 50 per cent compared to the final three months of 2008, in yet more good news for the industry. The record hedge fund liquidations seen in last three months of 2008, when 778 vehicles folded, proved to be short-lived, according to research [...]
GEITHNER: A MAN WITH A PLAN June 16, 2009 US TREASURY secretary Timothy Geithner’s plan to revamp financial regulation, likely to be the broadest overhaul since the 1930s, will today be announced by President Barack Obama. The changes are expected to include tougher capital requirements for financial institutions and more “robust” reporting requirements.
RBS to ease burden on debtors June 16, 2009 Royal Bank of Scotland is to delay foreclosures on commercial property assets, to give struggling customers more time to pay, the bank’s boss Stephen Hester said yesterday. He told the British Property Federation’s annual conference RBS is determined to “behave responsibly and to play a long game” to help customers manage debts. He added that [...]
Tomlinson named as NAPF head June 16, 2009 Lindsay Tomlinson, European vice chairman of soon-to-be-sold Barclays Global Investors, has been named as chairman of the National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF). Tomlinson is set to take over from Chris Hitchen whose two-year term expires in October. Lindsay, awarded an OBE for services to fund management in 2005, will have to tussle with rising [...]
BORIS: ORGY OF CITY BASHING MUST STOP June 16, 2009 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson yesterday leapt to defend the financial services industry, arguing that politicians and the City needed to be “far more vociferous” in opposing regulations dictated by the European Union. Speaking at the Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) annual summer lunch, Johnson said: “It is crazy that we are so passively and supinely [...]
Wheatcroft to edit WSJ Europe June 16, 2009 Patience Wheatcroft, the former Sunday Telegraph editor and Times business editor who left journalism in 2007 to take seats on the boards of Barclays and Shaftesbury, has been named editor-in-chief of Wall Street Journal (WSJ) Europe. Wheatcroft, who last year chaired Boris Johnson’s Forensic Audit Panel, has quit her non-exec role at Barclays to focus [...]