Aviva boss quits after pay revolt May 8, 2012 Insurer Aviva, hit last week by one of the biggest pay revolts ever suffered by a British company, said its chief executive Andrew Moss had stepped down with immediate effect. The group said he would be replaced by Chairman Designate John McFarlane in the interim. Moss had told the company that he believed it was [...]
Fears for euro as voters vent anger May 7, 2012 FEARS were growing over the future of the single currency last night in the aftermath of elections that threw out another two European governments. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that renegotiating Europe’s new “fiscal pact” is not on the cards despite the election of a new French President, Francois Hollande, who has made overhauling the [...]
Risk of Greek euro exit rises after messy vote leaves no clear winner May 7, 2012 THE CHANCES of Greece leaving the euro jumped yesterday after national elections resulted in an anti-bailout party being given a mandate to form a government. Analysts at Citi revised upwards the probability of a Greek exit from the euro from 50 per cent to 50-75 per cent due to the growing likelihood that Greece will [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING May 7, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Chinese groups drive rise in pre-sold HK IPOs Zhengzhou Coal Mining Machinery has enlisted nearly a dozen banks to hunt down investors willing to take stakes in the Chinese business ahead of its $1bn Hong Kong listing, an example of a trend gripping the world’s biggest market for new listings. Hopes rise UK [...]
Spanish banks stoke fears of costly bailouts May 7, 2012 FEARS were yesterday growing that Madrid will cough up billions to bail out Spain’s ailing banks as the chairman of Bankia, one of the country’s biggest lenders, quit suddenly. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy signalled that his government is lining up funds for a mass bailout as rumours circulated that Bankia, which only floated last [...]
Bankia’s brand new shareholders might feel like chumps after bailout talk. So they should May 7, 2012 AFTER all the fanfare that accompanied Bankia’s €3.3bn (£2.6bn) float in Spain last summer, talk of a bailout for the lender less than 10 months later could well leave its new investors feeling like chumps. And so they should. Investment bankers working on the float last year made a big song and dance about how [...]
Cameron: coalition won’t give up on its austerity programme May 7, 2012 PRIME Minister David Cameron will today warn that there is “no going back” on Britain’s austerity plan despite the financial obstacles strewn across Europe. Cameron will use a joint speech with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to underline the coalition’s focus on a “long and hard” deficit reduction programme that will help protect Britain from [...]
London calling as French set to flee tax attack May 7, 2012 LONDON is set to be a winner from the predicted exodus of high earners from France, after socialist Francois Hollande swept to power. Experts have said Britain is best-placed to benefit while mayor Boris Johnson has urged French finance workers to come here if President-elect Hollande goes through with his plan to set a tax [...]
Hungary plans €15bn loan deal to bring it back from the brink May 7, 2012 HUNGARY is seeking billions of euros in international loans over three years to stabilise its economy, a senior official said yesterday, blaming the IMF and EU for delays in starting aid talks. Central Europe’s most indebted nation needs a precautionary loan to rein in borrowing costs and prevent further cuts to its credit rating, which [...]
More economic pain in Spain May 7, 2012 SPAIN plunged further into recession as official data yesterday showed industrial output dropped sharply in the year to March, while a new study showed EU workers’ productivity falling, particularly in the crisis-hit peripheral economies. Industrial output fell 10.4 per cent in the year, official statistics agency INE revealed, following falls of 3.2 per cent in [...]