French left set for majority in parliament June 10, 2012 FRENCH President Francois Hollande was on track for a Socialist-led majority in parliament after a solid win in a first-round vote yesterday that should free him from having to rely on hard leftists hostile to European integration. Hollande’s Socialist bloc looks likely to win the 289 seats needed for an outright majority in the 577-seat [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 10, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Big UK funds urge rethink on incentives Some of the UK’s biggest fund managers are pushing banks and other blue-chip companies to adopt a dramatic change in pay practices, overhauling so-called long-term incentive plans to make them genuinely long term. Fidelity Worldwide Investment, Standard Life Investments and Hermes Equity Ownership Services are encouraging [...]
Analysts warn bailout debts may hurt Spain June 10, 2012 INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) boss Christine Lagarde welcomed Spain’s bailout deal as “key” to the financial sector’s future stability. But analysts warned that it may offer only temporary reprieve from the strains of the sovereign debt crisis, in part because the deal adds up-to €100bn (£81bn) to Spain’s already dangerously large public debt. “Providing a [...]
Consultancies will help to decide size of bailout June 10, 2012 SPAIN has refused to say how much cash its ailing banks need until audits from two consultancies, Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger, have been completed. While the IMF has already estimated that Spanish banks need a capital injection of between €40bn and €80bn (£32.4bn and £64.7bn) under its own stress tests, Madrid has decided to [...]
Transaction tax row threatens German talks June 10, 2012 A REPORT that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is not serious about implementing a European financial transaction tax threatens to undermine an initial deal struck last week with the opposition over the EU’s planned fiscal pact. Der Spiegel weekly reported yesterday that Merkel’s chief of staff, Ronald Pofalla, had said such a tax would not get [...]
Dutch PM says country will vote on contribution to bailout funds June 10, 2012 DUTCH lawmakers will have to approve their country’s participation in a Eurozone deal to lend up to €100bn (€81bn) to Spanish banks, the Dutch Finance Ministry said yesterday. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said Spanish banks had been at risk of collapse and the Netherlands had to support the aid package to protect its investments [...]
Airline calls for rapid solution from Eurozone June 10, 2012 THE HEAD of one of Europe’s largest airlines, Dutch KLM, urged the region’s leaders give a rapid signal of confidence to help dispel the effects of the European financial crisis. “I hope they solve (the crisis) rapidly or that we see clear messages that confidence is coming,” said KLM chief executive Peter Hartman. Consumer and [...]
Irish and Greek leaders could want new deal June 10, 2012 GREECE and Ireland could demand changes to their own bailout deals, it emerged yesterday, after Spain was given much more lenient terms on the terms of its bank rescue. The two smaller countries, as well as Spain’s neighbour Portugal, faced tough constraints on government spending and taxation before they were able to access bailout cash. [...]
Sluggish Italy may need a bailout too June 10, 2012 ITALY is still at risk and could require a bailout in the near future, economists warned yesterday, as its economy remains sluggish and government borrowing costs are still dangerously high. Ten-year borrowing costs stood at 5.77 per cent when markets closed on Friday, below the peaks of above seven per cent seen in December and [...]
Sorrell’s salary could drop as meeting looms June 10, 2012 WPP conceded for the first time this weekend, just days before the advertising giant’s general meeting, that its board could consider cutting chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell’s controversial pay package. Chairman Philip Lader said the WPP board has exercised “the best commercial judgement” and believes it is doing what is best for shareholders. But he [...]
