Bank of Italy to inspect finances of top lenders as bad loans could exceed £216bn July 29, 2013 The Bank of Italy is said to be inspecting the finances of some of the country's top lenders, according to reports from the Wall Street Journal. As expected, the Bank of Italy is investigating about NPLs ratio in Italian banks’ balance sheets. — Fabrizio Goria (@FGoria) July 29, 2013 According to Linkiesta, non-performing loans could [...]
ECB set to publish rules for Emergency Liquidity Assistance July 29, 2013 The European Central Bank is going to publish details of rules for Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), according to German newspaper Faz. Some rough translation from the Faz piece below: According to information from the FAZ, the Governing Council has decided that the rules for the controversial emergency loans (Emergency Liquidity Assistance ELA) to publish. This [...]
Travelodge warns that abuse of levies threatens London’s hotel sector July 29, 2013 Hotel chain Travelodge has warned that the Community Infrastructure Levy (CIL) is putting the capital's hotel sector under threat (release). CIL was introduced by the previous Government with the intention of ensuring financial clarity for developers in a bid to ensure developments make a fair contribution to infrastructure whilst providing an alternative solution or replacement [...]
Why is Mike Ashley in trouble over zero hour contracts? July 29, 2013 Trade union Unite has called for an urgent meeting with Sports Direct owner Mike Ashley over the treatment of Sports Direct staff after it was found that all of it’s part-time employees – accounting for 90 per cent of its workforce – are employed on zero hour contracts. A zero hour contract requires employees to [...]
US manufacturing expansion sees unexpected decline in pace July 29, 2013 The newest figure from the Dallas Fed manufacturing business index shows a fall from 6.5 to 4.4 in July. Economists had been forecasting a rise to 7.3 (release). Texas factory activity continued to expand in July, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state [...]
Omnicom shares jump on merger news July 29, 2013 Omnicom shares opened up over seven per cent today on news of its planned $35bn merger with fellow advertising giant Publicis. The Nasdaq-listed company saw its share price surpass $70 and hovered around that point. Following the release of its earnings data on 18 July, a number of analysts upped their predictions for Omnicom, with [...]
US pending home sales fall 0.4 per cent in June July 29, 2013 US pending home sales have fallen 0.4 per cent in June, from a 5.8 per cent rise (revised from 6.7 per cent) in the previous month. That's a nasty revision, and this month's figure is worse than the 0.1 per cent decline expected. pending
New EU bonus rules mean bankers can be paid in bonds to promote long-termism July 29, 2013 A new European Union law which will cap bonuses from 2014 will also allow bankers to be paid in bonds. Current rules allow bonuses to be up to 50 per cent cash, with the remainder in shares that can not be immediately sold. The new rules will allow bankers to be paid in bonds known [...]
Greece has some big obstacles to clear to meet its fiscal targets and achieve primary surplus by 2014 July 29, 2013 Greece is continuing to make "overall, albeit often slow, progress" under the second economic asjustment programme, according to the European Commission's latest review of the country's economy. Although Greece has made good progress on public finances, recapitalisation of the four major banks, and several important structural reforms, there are still a number of areas that [...]
Deloitte warns serious misconduct ruling could damage financial advisory industry July 29, 2013 Big four accountancy firm Deloitte has warned that a Financial Reporting Council (FRC) tribunal ruling it engaged in serious misconduct when it advised the owners of MG Rover in 2000 over two transactions could damage the financial advisory industry. City A.M. understands that Deloitte will make an interim payment of £1.75m, with the final figure [...]