News Corp cuts Murdoch’s 2012 bonus September 6, 2012 News Corp has cut this year’s bonuses for four top executives, including mogul Rupert Murdoch and his son James, after a phone-hacking scandal at the former British newspaper The News of the World, a regulatory filing showed. News Corp’s compensation committee said in a filing last night with the US Securities and Exchange Commission that [...]
Planning rules axed September 5, 2012 PLANNING laws will be temporarily relaxed to allow home extensions to be built without planning permission in an attempt to boost the flatlining economy, the government will announce today. Homeowners will be allowed to build single-storey extensions that stretch up to eight metres beyond their property’s rear wall without having to jump through the existing [...]
Lloyds in new mis-selling probe as FSA plans crackdown September 5, 2012 LLOYDS is facing an FSA probe into the state of compliance practices which may have enabled mis-selling to take place back in 2011, it emerged yesterday. The revelation came hours after top regulator Martin Wheatley told the industry it has just 18 months to reorganise bonus rules to remove perverse incentives which can promote damaging [...]
Women execs in sharp rise across Europe September 5, 2012 A THIRD of all new board members at Europe’s biggest firms this year are women, new research reveals today, with women now holding almost double the number of board seats than just eight years ago. Female directors now make up 15.6 per cent of boards, up from just eight per cent in 2004, and eighty-six [...]
Draghi likely to buy bonds in short term fix September 5, 2012 MARKETS edged up yesterday on hopes that European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi will today announce plans to buy more bonds in an effort to temporarily ease the pressure on troubled governments. The central banker has been caught between dovish factions looking to relieve the pressure on the beleaguered Italian and Spanish governments, and hawkish [...]
Ed Balls calls for wealth tax September 5, 2012 SHADOW chancellor Ed Balls has backed proposals for a permanent wealth tax on homes worth more than £2m in order to safeguard key public services and offered to discuss the idea with business secretary Vince Cable. “The likes of a mansion tax need to be on the table to be looked at,” the Labour MP told the [...]
Fourth London Whale trader September 5, 2012 A fourth London-based JP Morgan Chase trader is under scrutiny in the investigation by US authorities into the bank’s nearly $6bn (£3.7bn) trading loss. Julien Grout, a trader who joined JPMorgan Chase in 2009, is drawing attention because he worked in the bank’s Chief Investment Office and reported to Bruno Iksil, the French credit trader nicknamed [...]
What the other papers say this morning September 5, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Citigroup targets European banks Citigroup is launching a commodity trade finance business to capitalise on the pullback from the market by European lenders such as BNP Paribas. European banks including BNP and Crédit Agricole are scaling back their presence to limit their need for scarce dollars and comply with tougher regulatory capital requirements. [...]
Boris threatens election over third runway… September 5, 2012 BORIS Johnson yesterday refused to rule out standing in a parliamentary by-election if the government backs a third runway at Heathrow. Asked whether he was willing to campaign on the issue within the House of Commons, the Mayor told the BBC: “My job is to follow the interests of the people of London.” His comments came [...]
OFT launches investigation into the price of petrol at UK pumps September 5, 2012 THE Office of Fair Trading (OFT) yesterday caved in to pressure from MPs and said it would investigate the UK petrol and diesel sector. The review will look at whether reductions in the crude oil price are being reflected in the price at the pumps and lack of competition in the sector. MPs and consumer [...]