AOL sells Bebo to Criterion June 17, 2010 INTERNET giant AOL announced yesterday it will sell its Bebo social network site to private investment firm Criterion Capital Partners for an undisclosed sum, as it tries to restructure its business and deal with declining revenue. AOL has been trying to streamline operations since being spun off from Time Warner last year. It has struggled [...]
OSBORNE: BANK IS KING OF CITY June 16, 2010 GEORGE Osborne unveiled sweeping changes to the way the City is regulated last night, scrapping the Financial Services Authority and giving a beefed-up Bank of England huge powers. Bank governor Mervyn King is set to become one of most influential central bankers in the world under the shake-up, with responsibility for maintaining the overall stability [...]
OECD states losing power June 16, 2010 THIS is likely to be the last year in which developed countries account for more than half of global output, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) annual Perspectives on Global Development report, published yesterday. The Paris-based organisation, which represents 31 developed countries, said that its members would account for 51 per [...]
Why Mervyn King is the real winner June 16, 2010 SO there you are. The Bank of England is now in charge; the FSA is being disbanded and its name junked; and its staff are being reallocated to the Bank and other new agencies (and many will physically be moving back to the Square Mile from Canary Wharf). Hector Sants, the FSA’s chief executive, will [...]
Burren fund raises $500m June 16, 2010 GIBRALTAR, the low-tax British territory, has staged a coup by attracting the launch of a $500m (£340m) hedge fund run by ex-BNP Paribas event-driven specialist Andrew McGrath. In a sign of the growing preference for low-tax jurisdictions among alternative investment managers, McGrath will domicile the Burren Global Arbitrage Fund in the former colony rather than [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 16, 2010 CHÁVEZ ATTACKS ECONOMIC CRITICS Hugo Chávez has strongly defended his economic record as president of Venezuela after a turbulent year in which the country has been rocked by recession and 30 per cent inflation. Chávez used an interview to assail his critics in the US and Europe, saying the performance of the Venezuelan economy contrasted favourably [...]
Spanish borrowing costs soar June 16, 2010 Madrid’s cost of borrowing has hit a new high amid renewed fears over the state of its public finances. Investors are demanding a yield of 4.9 per cent on 10-year bonds, the steepest level since July 2008 and the widest spread over German bunds since the start of the euro in 1999. Analysts said the [...]
S&P circuit breakers triggered June 16, 2010 The Washington Post activated the S&P 500 circuit breakers for the first time yesterday after its shares doubled in price within the space of one second. The safety catches, brought in after last month’s “flash crash”, freeze a stock if its price rises or falls by 10 per cent inside a period of five minutes. [...]
Ex-OFT expert brought in to probe banks June 16, 2010 SIR John Vickers, the former boss of the Office of Fair Trading, has been appointed to lead a wide-ranging review into the future shape of the banking industry. Announcing the appointment in the Commons, chancellor George Osborne said Vickers would be asked to investigate the best “size, scale and function” of banks in the future. [...]
Osborne wins Square Mile’s quiet approval June 16, 2010 CITY figures cautiously welcomed chancellor George Osborne’s decision to restore financial regulation to the Bank of England last night, but urged him to think carefully about the shift. Osborne said oversight of UK-based high street lenders, investment banks, building societies and insurers would be the responsibility of a new body under the control of the [...]
