Cable’s wish list September 10, 2012 ■ BUSINESS BANK Business secretary Vince Cable will today announce that he is looking to set up a government-backed lender for firms that find it difficult to obtain funding in the private sector. The scale and model are yet to be decided, but it could operate through one of the smaller “challenger banks” or non-bank [...]
Chinese vice president disappears September 10, 2012 ■ Xi Jinping, widely seen as China’s leader-in-waiting, has mysteriously disappeared, just weeks before the 18th Communist Party congress, where President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao will step down. He was last seen in public on 1 September, but has cancelled at least four meetings since then, sparking a flurry of speculation over his [...]
Rise in labour disputes September 10, 2012 ■ Government measures that encourage public bodies to transfer jobs to private sector providers have led to a substantial rise in the number of costly employment tribunals, a law firm said yesterday. Tribunals relating to TUPE regulations – which ensure workers retain existing benefits if their jobs are transferred to a new employer – increased [...]
Huawei to put £1.2bn into UK September 10, 2012 ■ Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is planning to invest some £1.2bn into the UK, creating at least 700 jobs on the way. Huawei, which is privately owned by its employees, a rarity in China, will invest around £600m directly and spend about £600m on procurement related to the investment, Sky News reported.
Office of Fair Trading sets tougher fines September 10, 2012 THE OFFICE of Fair Trading has tripled the amount it can fine businesses found breaching competition law, the watchdog said yesterday. The OFT can now impose a penalty of up to 30 per cent of a firm’s relevant turnover in standard cases, up from 10 per cent, as it tries to move on from a [...]
New Barclays boss Jenkins vows to review every unit in the bank September 10, 2012 NEW BARCLAYS boss Antony Jenkins yesterday committed himself to keeping the universal banking model and maintaining a strong investment bank, but told analysts that every individual unit would need to prove its worth or could be scrapped. His tough review of the bank’s operations will be “granular and comprehensive” and will see units without a [...]
Merkel and Rehn are warming to ECB’s bond-buying scheme September 10, 2012 GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel and Olli Rehn, the Finnish European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker, appear to be softening on ECB president Mario Draghi’s bond-buying plan, making the scheme more likely to go ahead. Der Spiegel claimed yesterday that Merkel has switched from the chain theory, in which Greek is seen as a weak link which [...]
Moody’s hails Nomura’s $1bn European cuts September 10, 2012 CUTTING European jobs and trimming down the equities business should help Japanese bank Nomura back on the path to stable profits in the long run, credit ratings agency Moody’s said yesterday. Last week the bank announced the plans, which will see it cut back on equities and investment banking as part of a $1bn (£625m) [...]
Central bankers set up a new committee to study Libor crisis September 10, 2012 TOP CENTRAL bankers from around the world yesterday announced plans to set up a new committee to study key market lending rate Libor. The policymakers regularly meet in Basel to discuss matters of mutual importance, including the Libor-rigging scandal, which has seen investigations launched into several major banks. “The Bank of International Settlement governors have [...]
StanChart has a silver lining says Investec September 10, 2012 MARKETS have yet to recover from Standard Chartered’s Iranian sanction-breaking scandal, and so are failing to recognise the bank’s underlying strengths, analysts from Investec said yesterday. Although the bank’s share price has recovered roughly 30 per cent in the last month, it is still feeling the effects of US regulatory action – even though the [...]
