Pickles backs garden cities as Legal & General offers funding January 20, 2014 ERIC Pickles said yesterday that the government is keen to see garden cities built around the green belt of London to try and ease the housing shortage. Pickles, the coalition’s communities secretary, denied all knowledge of a report that Nick Clegg claimed last week was produced in secret by the department of communities and local [...]
British ex-banker Branson tipped for top of Swiss bank watchdog January 20, 2014 A BRITISH-BORN former UBS banker is tipped to lead Switzerland’s financial regulator after the current head’s surprise exit, reported Schweiz am Sonntag, citing undisclosed sources. Mark Branson, named temporary head of Finma when chief executive Patrick Raaflaub stepped down suddenly last Wednesday, is favuored by the regulator’s board and the outgoing CEO to take over [...]
Another Lloyds stake could sell next month January 20, 2014 LLOYDS’ share price has been hovering at above 80p for most of this month, raising speculation that the government could sell another chunk in the coming months. The stock closed at 83.5p on Friday, well above the 75p the government sold a six per cent stake at in September. The bank, headed by Antonio Horta [...]
Labour to make jobseekers take basic skills test January 20, 2014 JOBSEEKERS will have to pass a basic skills test and could lose their unemployment benefits, under tough new measures being pledged by Labour’s shadow work and pensions secretary today. In her first major policy speech since taking up the post in October, Rachel Reeves will set out Labour’s latest plans for tackling the cost of [...]
Ukip beats the opposition to be UK’s most popular political party January 19, 2014 UKIP leader Nigel Farage is the second most popular political party leader, with Ukip the most popular political party, according to a ComRes poll released yesterday. Over 22 per cent of voters polled picked Farage as their favourite leader, behind David Cameron’s 27 per cent. Some 27 per cent picked Ukip as their favourite party, [...]
Boris hits out at airport snub January 19, 2014 BORIS Johnson has reportedly made a fresh attack on the methods of the government’s airports commission. The Mayor of London called the commission’s decision-making process “gloopy, tangled and quite labyrinthine,” according to the Sunday Times. The commission, led by Sir Howard Davies, last week invited further comments on a new airport in the Thames Estuary, [...]
UBS outsources trading platform January 19, 2014 SWISS bank UBS will begin outsourcing its fixed income trading platform to two technology groups in an attempt to save costs, a source has claimed. UBS declined to comment. French trading software firm Murex and Ion Trading have been finalised to handle bookings and electronic exchange gateways, the source said. Murex and Ion Trading could [...]
Another activist hedgie hovers over Morrisons January 19, 2014 BILLIONAIRE hedge fund boss Tom Sandell has revealed a small stake in beleaguered supermarket Morrisons, the latest activist investor to pursue an investment in the struggling chain. Sandell, who runs Sandell Asset Management, owns a tiny proportion of the firm’s shares, thought to be well below the three per cent threshold required for public disclosure. [...]
Mothercare is said to be in the sights of retailing giant Tesco January 19, 2014 TESCO considered a bid for mother and baby products retailer Mothercare to help reinvigorate its supermarkets, the Sunday Times reported. Citing retail sources, the newspaper said Tesco examined a bid six months ago but has put the plan on hold. However, the recent fall in Mothercare’s share price could rekindle Tesco’s plan according to the [...]
Data storage firm Dropbox gets $10bn valuation in funding round January 19, 2014 DROPBOX, the online storage service, has secured $250m (£152.4m) from a fund managed by BlackRock and other investors in a funding round that has valued the business at almost $10bn. The firm’s valuation has climbed alongside demand for online storage. It was last valued at about $4bn after a 2011 funding round. Previous investors in [...]
