Problems were isolated at RSA, report concludes January 9, 2014 AN INDEPENDENT report into problems at insurance giant RSA has concluded that financial inconsistencies led to a £200m hole in its finances, but were isolated to a few executives at the top of its Irish arm. The report highlighted “inappropriate collaboration” between three senior managers in the Irish business, which led to large claims being [...]
Inside Track: Reflections on Standard Chartered’s boardroom turmoil January 9, 2014 WHEN there’s as much background noise coming out of a boardroom as there has been from Standard Chartered’s in recent weeks, it’s a fair bet that changes are on the horizon. Yesterday the emerging markets bank dropped the bombshell that its finance director for the past seven years, Richard Meddings, was leaving. Meddings, so chief [...]
Decline of the PC accelerates January 9, 2014 WORLDWIDE PC shipments during the fourth quarter 2013 fell 6.9 per cent from the same period in 2012, reaching similar levels as 2009. Described as the worst decline in PC market history by research firm Gartner, shipments totalled just 82.6m units, marking the seventh consecutive quarterly shipment decline. “Although PC shipments continued to decline in [...]
Alcoa stung by $384m charge January 9, 2014 ALCOA and a joint venture it controls have agreed to pay $384m (£233m) to resolve charges of bribing officials at a Bahraini state-controlled aluminum smelter. The two deals settle criminal and civil allegations that two of the joint venture’s subsidiaries bribed officials for years so they could supply raw materials to Aluminum Bahrain, or Alba. [...]
Hays sees signs of broad uptick in British hiring January 9, 2014 HAYS has become the latest recruitment company to declare a thaw in the UK jobs market, with net fees in the last quarter of 2013 up 10 per cent. Hiring has surged in UK construction and there are pockets of jobs growth in financial services, finance boss Paul Venables said. “In the City of London [...]
Surge in small deposits caused by 2013 house market recovery January 9, 2014 THE NUMBER of home loans with a low deposit has surged by 60 per cent over the last year, as the number of mortgage loans heads back to pre-crisis levels. According to chartered surveyors E.surv, there were 9,038 house purchases with a deposit that is worth less than 15 per cent of the value of [...]
Recovery does little to close UK trade deficit January 9, 2014 THE UK’S trade deficit stayed wide in November, with little indication that a recent boost to economic growth is feeding through to much of an improvement in exports. People in the UK imported £3.2bn more goods and services combined than they traded out of the country during the month, a minor improvement from October’s £3.5bn. While [...]
Draghi says no need for more euro loosening January 9, 2014 LOOSE monetary policy is at last getting through to the real economy, European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi said yesterday. The low rate of inflation in the Eurozone prompted some analysts to call for lower, or even negative, rates. Another option to push up consumer price inflation, which slowed to 0.8 per cent in the year [...]
Investors lap up Bankia’s debt as Spanish lender returns to market January 9, 2014 BANKIA paid less than initially planned for its five-year bond issued yesterday, as investors were unexpectedly keen for the debt. The lender raised €1bn (£825m) in the issuance, paying 235 basis points over mid-swaps. That represents a discount relative to the expected cost of mid-swaps plus 250 basis points, as the issue was oversubscribed. The [...]
Euro area optimism heads back to trend for first time since 2011 January 9, 2014 CONFIDENCE in the economy of the Eurozone is back to its long-term average level for the first time since the aborted hike in interest rates two and a half years ago. In December, the currency union’s economic sentiment indicator hit exactly 100 for the first time since the middle of 2011, indicating that optimism is [...]
