Business lending to boom as UK recovery takes hold January 12, 2014 LENDING is set to rise in every area of the economy, analysts at EY forecast today, as the recovery finally gives banks the confidence to supply more credit. No other European country’s bankers have so much confidence, the study found, underlining the strength of the recovery in Britain. Firms of all sizes and sectors in [...]
Our booming population faces a crippling shortage of homes January 12, 2014 ANOTHER day, another report providing yet more evidence that Britain’s housing crisis is getting worse. Countrywide estimates that England will face a shortfall of 1m homes by 2021, half of which will be in London and the South East. The problem, of course, is that our planning rules have throttled house-building in the UK, guaranteeing [...]
Jump in City hiring as firms bounce back January 12, 2014 CITY hiring bounced back towards the end of 2013 in new signs that the finance sector’s crisis era is over, industry data show today. Recruiter Astbury Marsden found 1,336 new jobs in December, up 67 per cent on the same month of 2012. At the start of 2013 job creation was falling, but the increase [...]
Relief for banks as regulator eases debt rule January 12, 2014 BANKS won a welcome reprieve yesterday after regulators agreed to ease the way a new rule, meant to rein in risky balance sheets from 2018, is compiled to try to avoid crimping financing for the world’s economy. The decisions, by the Basel Committee’s oversight body, were the latest sign of how regulators have become more [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 13 January 2014 January 12, 2014 FINANCIAL TIMES Treasury debt pledge on Scotland The UK Treasury will today assume full responsibility for Britain’s £1.2 trillion debt stock in the event of Scottish independence, in an attempt to head off market jitters ahead of September’s referendum. Danny Alexander, Treasury chief secretary, fears gilt investors could start demanding a risk premium in the [...]
UK car industry racing back as Jaguar sales rise January 12, 2014 JAGUAR Land Rover smashed its annual sales record in 2013, helped by the soaring global demand for luxury British cars that has revived the fortunes of the UK motor manufacturing industry. The company, which sells 85 per cent of its cars abroad, sold 425,006 vehicles last year, a rise of 19 per cent. More than [...]
Curbs on Iran’s nuclear activity start next week January 12, 2014 A DEAL for Iran to freeze parts of its nuclear program in return for sanctions relief will take effect on 20 January, giving world powers and Tehran six months to agree a complete end to a standoff that has raised the risk of a wider Middle East war. US Secretary of State John Kerry cautioned [...]
BlackRock backs Bolton against Italian civil suit January 12, 2014 BLACKROCK said it has conducted a full internal investigation and found no evidence to support allegations that fund manager Nigel Bolton is guilty of insider trading. It emerged on Friday that Consob, the Italian securities regulator, had launched civil proceedings against Bolton, a portfolio manager and head of BlackRock Investment Management’s European equity team, accusing [...]
Investment bank Moelis & Co is mulling a public offering January 12, 2014 INVESTMENT bank Moelis & Co is working with Goldman Sachs on a potential initial public offering (IPO), according to reports. The New York-based bank, founded by Wall Street dealmaker Ken Moelis, is assembling paperwork for its IPO, and working on it with law firm Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom and other advisers, the Wall [...]
Morrison resists calls for radical property plans January 12, 2014 WM MORRISON is expected to resist calls by activists for a radical overhaul of its property portfolio, insisting instead that it will make some modest disposals within its freehold estate. In the aftermath of disappointing Christmas trading figures last week the supermarket group has faced demands from some dissident investors to take the knife to [...]
