BA and Iberia sign merger agreement April 8, 2010 BRITISH Airways and Iberia have signed a merger agreement that will see the two carriers launch a new company called International Airlines. The merger is expected to be complete by November this year and has received approval from local aviation authorities but awaits both European Commission and shareholder approval. BA and Iberia will create a [...]
TfL secures 1bn loan from EIB to help fund Crossrail September 7, 2009 TRANSPORT for London (TfL) has secured a £1bn loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to finance 40 per cent of its contribution to the Crossrail project, it will say today. “For the EIB to agree to the loan facility provides international recognition of Crossrail’s importance and is a further milestone in the delivery of [...]
Bankers must look hard at pay if they want to win back the public’s support April 14, 2010 JUDGING by public and media sentiment over the past couple of years, the fairground arcade staple of whack-a-mole will at some point be replaced by the sport of whack-a-banker. The credit crunch blame-game does not appear to be dissipating. A particular bone of contention between the banks, politicians and the public is the issue of [...]
The grocer who says this year will test retailers as well as shoppers May 31, 2010 Much like the rest of the country, the chief executive of the country’s third largest supermarket group is trying to make up his mind about the coalition government. At the start of the election campaign Sainsbury’s boss Justin King was one of many who backed Tory plans to scrap national insurance hikes for employers, a [...]
Britain must not fork out for bailout February 10, 2010 THERE are two policies the British government must pursue over the looming bail-out of Greece and other weaker Eurozone countries, a move which looks increasingly likely and which will be debated in detail at today’s European summit. First, the government must make it clear that the UK taxpayer will not be put at risk. If [...]
The Tory who wants to empower parents and fight the bureaucrats March 7, 2010 TORY activists are a miserable bunch at the moment, and who can blame them? The polls suggest we are on course for a hung parliament, with their party struggling to land blows on a tired, unpopular government. And even if the Conservatives do emerge victorious, there is little in David Cameron’s policy cupboard for the [...]
Service companies key to City’s business success December 20, 2009 In light of recent headlines it is hard to believe that London’s ongoing reputation as a world class financial centre depends on anything other than tax and regulation but I assure you it is true. One of the City’s traditional advantages, especially over emerging markets, is the quality of its local services – firms and [...]
All can fail: my new manifesto for the banks January 25, 2010 REGULAR readers of this column will know that I am no fan of many of the proposals being cooked up to reform the banks. I have opposed Barack Obama’s plan to ban retail banks from engaging in proprietary trading; George Osborne’s support of Glass-Steagall, which would break up commercial and investment banks; and Alistair Darling’s [...]
Report says UK rules took Citi to brink November 9, 2009 A REPORT into the US bank bailouts has raised questions about whether the Financial Services Authority (FSA) pushed Citigroup towards the brink in November 2008 in a bid to protect UK interests from another Lehman Brothers-type collapse. A footnote to a report by the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) claims that the FSA ratcheted up liquidity [...]
Long-term care provision: a chance for redemption October 25, 2009 WHEN it comes to old age, it is not just the elderly who can get confused. For years, politicians, policy makers and economists alike have struggled to provide a sustainable solution to the problem of funding long-term care for elderly people in an ageing UK population. As part of this debate, the City of London [...]