Q and A July 25, 2013 Director, Douglas & Gordon Q I’m very confused about the Government’s Help to Buy scheme. Does the fact that I have owned a property before affect my eligibility? A You do not need to be a first time buyer to take advantage of the Help to Buy scheme, merely unable to afford to buy (they [...]
London barometer July 25, 2013 Director of Douglas & Gordon Compared to the same time last year, in July supply was down by 30 per cent, offers received and accepted were up 10 per cent, fall throughs almost halved and buyer levels remained steady. Political interference at the top end of the market seems to be having a dampening effect [...]
GlaxoSmithKline names Frenchman Gisserot as its new head of operations in China July 25, 2013 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the pharmaceutical company at the centre of a bribery scandal in China, has announced it is appointing a new head of operations in China. Herve Gisserot will take over from Mark Reilly, who will stay on as a senior member of the management team, a spokesman has told Reuters. Gisserot has held the [...]
Confusion over record outflow of Cyprus bank deposits July 25, 2013 Deposits in Cypriot banks appeared to fall at the fastest rate in history after a poorly reported adjustment to the banks included in the measure resulted in the headline stock figure reporting a yearly outflow of €5.3bn (£4.6bn) (release from Cyprus's central bank). If deposits really fell that much, it would be the fastest rate [...]
Nurses struck off over Stafford hospital scandal – but one is still employed by NHS July 25, 2013 Sharon Turner and Tracey White have become the first nurses to lose their licence to practice over the scandal at Mid-Staffordshire NHS Trust after a decision made this afternoon by the Nursing and Midwifery Council. The nurses falsified accident and emergency discharge times to avoid missing the government goal for patients to be dealt with [...]
Serious Fraud Office hopes to make more Libor charges in Autumn July 25, 2013 The UK Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has said it is hoping to make more charges against individuals for manipulation the Libor interbank lending rate this Autumn and is not afraid of legal barriers to convicting corporations. Speaking to Reuters, a spokesperson for the SFO said: We will go where the evidence takes us, but we [...]
US charges major hedge fund SAC Capital with criminal fraud July 25, 2013 A US federal grand jury has indicted Steven Cohen’s hedge fund SAC Capital Advisors just days after the US Securities and Exchange Commission filed civil charges against Cohen himself. SAC is charged with wire fraud as well as four counts of securities fraud. According to the indictment, the hedge fund obtained and traded on inside [...]
IMF urges European Central Bank to cut rates and use non-standard measures to boost lending and growth July 25, 2013 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has said it expects eurozone GDP to contract by 0.6 per cent for a second consecutive year in 2013, before a modest 0.9 per cent expansion in 2013. It also said the European Central Bank should lower its key policy rate and use non-standard tools to boost lending and support [...]
China and India to account for half the projected jump in energy consumption by 2040 July 25, 2013 China and India will account for half of the 56 per cent growth in global energy consumption between 2010 and 2040, according to a report from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Shale gas and other fossil fuels will continue to supply 80 per cent of the world's energy needs, despite rapidly growing use of [...]
Boeing drives US durable goods orders to unexpected high July 25, 2013 New orders for durable goods in the US rose for the third consecutive month in June by 4.2 per cent, higher than the 3.6 per cent growth recorded in May and far above analyst expectations of 0.5 per cent growth. But some beady eyes noted that a lot of this growth stemmed from a single [...]