Co-op mulls Sunwin sale to beef up branches bid March 25, 2012 THE Co-operative group is considering a sale of its cash handling business as it tries to raise cash for its deal to buy 632 branches of Lloyds bank. The mutual has reportedly hired Buckingham Corporate Finance to handle the sale of Sunwin Services, which could raise £30m or £40m. Sunwin provides secure transport of cash [...]
GE plots quick launch of online bank in Britain March 25, 2012 ENGINEERING and financial services giant General Electric is to open an online retail bank in Britain. The American group’s GE Capital UK arm won approval for its banking licence from the Financial Services Authority last week and is expected to launch in mid-April. The new bank will be called GE Capital Direct and aims to [...]
Bonuses set for delay as tax cut looms March 25, 2012 BANKERS are set to try to delay the receipt of bonuses to take advantage of the abolition of the 50p top rate of tax. City workers could increase by tens of thousands of pounds the net value of their awards for this year’s performance by deferring payment by a few months from the start of [...]
China’s CCB posts rise in 2011 profit March 25, 2012 CHINA Construction Bank, the world’s second biggest lender by market value, reported a 25 per cent rise in 2011 net profit, missing expectations as lending curbs on the real estate sector hit earnings. Net profit in 2011 rose to 169.3bn yuan (£16.9bn) from 135bn yuan the year before, according to a filing to the Hong [...]
Bank seeks new powers over lending March 25, 2012 NEW regulations cannot absolutely prevent the possibility of another financial crisis or of banks failing, a Bank of England policy maker announced just days after the Bank had pushed for stronger powers over the industry. The culture within banks, as well as changes to the structure of incentives, will be the most important changes, financial [...]
Pensions deficits set to soar on Solvency II-style EU regulations March 25, 2012 BRITAIN’S largest companies face paying billions more into pension schemes to cover the costs imposed by planned new EU regulations, a study revealed today. The average FTSE100 firm could see its pension liabilities rise by up to £2.5bn, Deloitte said, as three-quarters of those surveyed said gross liabilities will rise by between 20 per cent [...]
Royal Dutch Shell has $1bn debt to Iran March 25, 2012 ROYAL Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1bn (£630m) that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and US financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments. The oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Company for deliveries of crude, with one putting the figure at [...]
BP looks to sell £2bn of North Sea oil assets March 25, 2012 BP has put several of its North Sea oil assets worth close to £2bn up for sale just a week after the chancellor unveiled tax breaks for the industry in a move to encourage more exploration in the region. BP, which won approval last week to drill a deepwater well off the coast of the [...]
Our reader panel says Osborne should have cut 50p rate further but welcomes cut in corporation tax March 25, 2012 GEORGE Osborne should have gone further in cutting the top rate of tax by reducing it from 50p to 40p in his Budget last week, rather than 45p, according to our readers’ panel. Sixty-seven per cent of panellists on the Voice of the City Panel, run in conjunction with PoliticsHome, said the chancellor should have [...]
BATS founder calls for fresh flotation plan March 25, 2012 BATS Global Markets, the US exchange operator that withdrew its public offering Friday after a computer glitch sent its newly-issued stock into a tailspin, should develop a “credible IPO plan” and go through with it in the second quarter, its founder and current director has said. BATS’ own stock was to be its first listing. [...]