US may lose Moody’s AAA September 11, 2012 THE US will lose its treasured triple-A status if it fails to impose spending cuts, or otherwise move its fiscal situation into more prudent territory, ratings agency Moody’s said yesterday. “The direction of the US rating and its outlook will most likely be determined by…budget negotiations during the course of 2013,” a Moody’s report revealed [...]
Direct Line IPO nears take-off September 11, 2012 ROYAL Bank of Scotland is widely expected to officially launch the sale process for the IPO of its insurance unit Direct Line as early as tomorrow, sources said last night. Some say that the float, which will be the largest in London this year if it goes ahead, will value the business at around £3bn. [...]
EU eyes grip on UK lenders September 11, 2012 EU OFFICIALS will today unveil controversial plans to hand greater powers over British banks to European regulators, in a move that will stoke fresh tensions between the UK and Brussels. As part of plans for a Eurozone banking union, the European Banking Authority – which governs national regulators – would be given the authority to [...]
Morgan Stanley claims win on Citi broker sale September 11, 2012 CITIGROUP yesterday agreed to slash the value of its brokerage unit, allowing joint owner Morgan Stanley to buy it out for a fraction of the value Citi hoped for. Citi had valued its 49 per cent stake in Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) at $11.3bn (£7bn), but the total valuation of $13.5bn puts its share’s [...]
Bailout chief Kingman returns to Whitehall with Treasury job September 11, 2012 JOHN Kingman, who oversaw Britain’s bailout of its banks in the financial crisis and then led the body responsible for the shareholdings, is to return to the Treasury after two years as a senior banker at Rothschild. Kingman will next month return to the Treasury as a second permanent secretary, responsible for its economics function, [...]
Deutsche plans more job cuts in big shake-up September 11, 2012 BONUSES, jobs and dividends all face further cuts over the next three years as Deutsche Bank tries to chop costs and position itself for growth in the longer term, the bank’s bosses announced yesterday. New co-chief executives Anshu Jain and Jurgen Fitschen revealed the results of their review 100 days into the job, telling an [...]
Zuckerberg’s defence rallies Facebook stock September 11, 2012 FACEBOOK’S chief executive Mark Zuckerberg defended the company last night in his first public speech since the social network’s disastrous flotation, moving shares up more than four per cent and promising a number of changes to the business. Speaking at San Francisco’s TechCrunch Disrupt conference, Zuckerberg admitted that the company’s performance since May’s initial public [...]
Omnifone reaches first profit as music streaming takes off September 11, 2012 DIGITAL music streaming provider Omnifone yesterday reported its first profit since it launched nine years ago. The company, which has launched music services for Sony and BlackBerry phones as well as its own Rara operation in the last year, said revenue had more than doubled to £29.5m in the year to May as it posted [...]
Huawei to put £1.3bn into UK September 11, 2012 CHINESE telecoms company Huawei yesterday confirmed a £1.3bn expansion in Britain that will create around 700 jobs, following talks between the company and the UK government. David Cameron hailed the move, saying it “demonstrates once again that the UK is open for business”, while Huawei’s chief executive Ren Zhengfei said Britain is “one of the [...]
New Everything Everywhere 4G service unveiled September 11, 2012 EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE, the parent company of the Orange and T-Mobile phone networks, yesterday announced the launch of a third network for its 4G mobile broadband service and a rebranding of the firm. Both the new service and the parent company will now be known as “EE”, a move that follows a branding review held over [...]
