HSBC gears up to shake up its board of directors April 14, 2015 British banking giant HSBC is planning to shake up its boardroom, as long-serving directors prepare to leave the institution. Non-executives Rona Fairhead and Simon Robertson are expected to serve on the board for another year, and the bank’s headhunters are looking for candidates to join the top committee. HSBC is understood to retain recruiters MWM Consulting [...]
Billionaire backers Wilbur Ross and Stanhope Investments cut Virgin Money stake April 14, 2015 Billionaire investors Wilbur Ross and Stanhope Investments last night cut their stake in high street bank Virgin Money by selling $354m (£240m) of shares in the Richard Branson-backed venture. The bank, which floated last November by raising £500m, valuing the business at £1.25bn, is co-owned by US investor Ross and Abu Dhabi-based fund Stanhope alongside [...]
Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis heads to Washington ahead of crunch talks April 14, 2015 Greece’s finance minister Yanis Varoufakis will jet off to the US tonight to meet President Barack Obama, as well as the lawyer who helped Greece restructure its debt in 2012. Varoufakis will meet Obama tomorrow. It will be followed by meetings with European Central Bank head Mario Draghi on Friday, Secretary of the Treasury Jack [...]
Poundland eyes extension over 99p Stores deal probe April 14, 2015 Poundland is expected to ask for an extension tomorrow over its decision on whether to walk away from its £55m tie-up with 99p Stores or proceed with a full-scale probe by the competition watchdog. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said last week that it had concerns over 92 areas where it believes there could [...]
Flipkart backs off from Airtel deal amid social media backlash over net neutrality threat April 14, 2015 India’s biggest online retailer Flipkart succumbed to social media protesters yesterday after announcing it was backing away from a controversial deal with phone network Airtel. Flipkart had faced an increasingly hostile social media backlash after announcing plans to allow its customers to freely browse Airtel’s network while picking up their data costs. Critics had slammed [...]
IMF: “Complex forces” drive mature market growth, dampen emerging markets in 2015-2016 April 14, 2015 There are “complex forces” across the world that could lead to “uneven” growth over the next year, the IMF has warned. Overall global growth is forecast at 3.5 per cent in 2015 and 3.8 per cent in 2016 – but beneath these top line figures there will be a huge variety. The two biggest [...]
Phones 4U creditors to receive up to 24p in the pound says PwC April 14, 2015 Collapsed mobile phone retailer Phones 4U will return up to 20-24p in the pound to senior creditors, but suppliers and the taxman will get relatively little from the administration. PwC, which was appointed administrator in September last year, said super senior noteholders – typically hedge funds and other asset managers – will receive nearly [...]
JPMorgan profits rise beyond expectations in the first quarter April 14, 2015 During the first financial quarter of 2015, JPMorgan's profits reached $5.9bn (£4bn) – a 12 per cent increase on last year's figure of $5.3bn. This was equivalent to $1.45 per share, which beat analyst expectations of $1.41 per share. Revenue was also up, at $24.8bn – a rise of four per cent. It's the [...]
Hargreaves Lansdown share price falls as co-founder Peter Hargreaves leaves board after 34 years April 14, 2015 Hargreaves Lansdown's share price dropped 4.4 per cent this afternoon as it revealed co-founder Peter Hargreaves was stepping down from the board of the company that bears his name. Hargreaves, who along with Stephen Lansdown set the Bristol business up in 1981, is stepping down from the Hargreaves Lansdown board with immediate effect. He [...]
London house prices no longer the UK’s fastest growing as General Election looms April 14, 2015 House price growth is slowing in the run up to the election, new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has shown, with London slipping down the list of fastest growing regions. In January London was top of the pile with 13 per cent year-on-year growth, but it’s been knocked back as its growth [...]