EPISODE 50 – A sudden end, but the cheque’s in the post March 26, 2012 DEAR Cicely, I am writing to inform you that I will not be attending our scheduled session tomorrow. I might have attended, or called, to inform you of my decision but frankly, I felt you might encourage me to reconsider. And I don’t wish to do that. My apologies for the abrupt decision and my [...]
Fuel tanker drivers vote for strike March 26, 2012 Fuel tanker drivers have voted in favour of taking strike action raising the prospect of troops delivering fuel to petrol stations. The strike ballot over terms and conditions was held by the Unite union. The government is holding a meeting with fuel delivery companies and supermarkets to work out a strategy to deal with any [...]
Mobile banking firm Monitise buys US rival for £108m March 26, 2012 UK mobile banking technology firm Monitise has agreed to buy privately held US rival Clairmail for $173m (£108m), expanding its reach on the key North American market. In the UK the firm currently provides mobile banking applications for customers of Natwest, Lloyds TSB, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC. After the deal Monitise will reach [...]
Game plunges into administration March 26, 2012 Struggling video games retailer Game said on Monday it has entered administration, becoming the latest household name to fall by the wayside in the consumer downturn. The firm, which employs 10,000 staff in 1,270 stores in nine European countries and Australia, said it has appointed PwC as its administrator after failing to find a buyer [...]
FSA fines Coutts £8.7m March 26, 2012 THE Financial Services Authority (FSA) regulator has fined Coutts – the exclusive private bank owned by Royal Bank of Scotland – £8.75m for failings in its anti-money laundering controls systems. In October 2010, the FSA visited Coutts – whose chief executive is Rory Tapner as part of its thematic review into banks’ management of high money-laundering [...]
Energy stocks lift FTSE March 26, 2012 Energy stocks gave the FTSE 100 index renewed impetus in early trading but gains were limited by weaker miners and banks. Fears over China’s growth are still casting a shadow over commodity stocks while banks are still struggling to maintain upward momentum. Aberdeen Asset Management was the top riser, up 2.4 per cent as the [...]
Santander to close 56 branches March 26, 2012 Spain’s Santander is closing 56 branches in Britain to remove overlap in its network after it bolted together three separate businesses, which left it with two branches side by side in some places. Santander’s purchase of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley during the 2008 financial crisis came four years after it bought Abbey [...]
EasyJet losses narrow March 26, 2012 EasyJet said it expected its first-half loss to be narrower than previously thought as cost control measures and better marketing help the British budget airline offset continuing weakness in the sector. “In a difficult environment for all airlines, improvements in revenue management combined with marketing and website initiatives have enabled EasyJet to take advantage as [...]
Aberdeen sees client cash bounce back March 26, 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management’s clients added £1.48bn of new money to its range of funds in first two months of the year, as investors recovered their appetite for risk and returned to buying equity products. In a trading update on Monday, Aberdeen said its assets under management rose to £184.4bn pounds at end-February, up from £173.9bn [...]
Shells scrambles to pay off $1bn Iran oil debt March 26, 2012 Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1bn that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said. Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, [...]