Microsoft boss takes pay cut September 29, 2009 Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer took a 5.5 per cent pay cut for the last fiscal year, as the software giant suffered its first ever drop in annual sales. Ballmer earned a total of $1.3m (£0.8m), and saw his performance-related bonus slashed $100,000 to $600,000.
PPI complaints to be reassessed September 29, 2009 The Financial Services Authority (FSA) is introducing new rules to ensure complaints about payment protection insurance (PPI) are handled properly. Companies will be required to reopen 185,000 previously rejected PPI complaints to see if the decisions were fair.
BNP Paribas plans 4.3bn rights issue September 29, 2009 FRENCH banking giant BNP Paribas is to raise €4.3bn (£4.1bn) as it joins the global rush by lenders to pay back state bailout money. The bank said the underwritten issue, at a discounted €40 per share, would help it repay €5.1bn in non-voting shares taken by the French government at the end of March, as [...]
Bank of England says it has no plans to lower rates on commercial reserves September 29, 2009 THE pound gained yesterday after the Bank of England said it had no immediate plans to cut the interest rate paid on commercial banks’ deposits. Introducing an unprecedented level of transparency to its policymaking process, the Bank invited a host of leading City economists to attend a summit to discuss quantitative easing (QE). The Bank [...]
Dunstone to fight piracy laws in court September 29, 2009 CARPHONE Warehouse chief executive Charles Dunstone said last night that he is prepared to take the government to court if it passes a rule forcing internet service providers (ISPs) to cut off suspected file-sharers. Dunstone said that Carphone-owned ISP provider TalkTalk – which supplies 4.25m households – would refuse to slow down or cut off [...]
Voser and Marchionne to leave board of UBS, bank announces September 29, 2009 FIAT boss Sergio Marchionne and Shell chief executive Peter Voser are to step down from the board of UBS, the Swiss bank said yesterday. Marchionne, the bank’s senior independent director, and fellow board member Voser, said they would stand down at the company’s general assembly in April next year, to spend more time on their [...]
CITY ELECTS NEW LORD MAYOR September 29, 2009 NICK Anstee, a senior director of law firm SJ Berwin, was yesterday elected as the 682nd Lord Mayor of the City of London. Anstee, who officially takes office in November, said the City should “continue to engage in debate to ensure any reforms are well-directed, effective, proportionate and maintain the City’s competitiveness”.
Profits slump at Close Bros on bad debts September 29, 2009 MERCHANT bank Close Brothers has reported a 25 per cent drop in its pre-tax annual operating profits, although the fall was less severe than expected. The firm said a strong performance from its Winterflood brokerage helped ease its losses, which were largely caused by bad debts in the financial crisis. It said profits fell to [...]
Hester: Cost savings and asset sales are going well September 29, 2009 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) chief executive Stephen Hester’s mission to sell off non-core assets is going well, he said yesterday, confirming that the bank’s aircraft leasing operation was for sale. “We will sell all the things in non-core or wind them down, and the things in core will stay in the bank unless someone [...]
Petra discovers massive diamond September 29, 2009 Mining group Petra Diamonds has discovered a 507 carat stone, which could be worth over $20m (£12.5m), the group announced yesterday. It was found with three other large diamonds at the famous Cullinan mine. Last year, a 480 carat diamond made the firm $18m. Yesterday’s discovery is one of the 20 biggest diamond finds in [...]
