Rates tipped to rise long before Bank’s forecast November 4, 2013 THE BANK of England’s forward guidance policy may halt years sooner than projected, according to a surprising new analysis. According to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr), there is a one in five chance that the Bank will hike interest rates as early as the first three months of 2014. However, Niesr [...]
Boris calls for quicker action on new runways November 4, 2013 LONDON mayor Boris Johnson has urged the government to end its “gelatinous indecision” on new airport runways, but added that to expand Heathrow would be “politically toxic”. He used his speech at the CBI to warn ministers that any delay to building air capacity is costing companies international business. “It is time to stop dithering, [...]
SAC Capital to pay $1.8bn bill in largest fine for insider trading November 4, 2013 US PROSECUTORS took their biggest insider trading scalp in over a quarter of a century yesterday after securing a guilty plea on fraud charges from SAC Capital. The $15bn hedge fund, led by investment titan Steve Cohen, has agreed to enter guilty pleas on four counts of securities fraud and one count of wire fraud. [...]
Fraud squad launches criminal probe into G4S and Serco billing November 4, 2013 THE UK’s fraud squad yesterday said it has opened a criminal investigation into G4S and Serco, which experts say could leave individuals facing prison sentences of up to 10 years if convicted. The Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO) probe centres around the electronic prisoner-monitoring contracts awarded to the two FTSE 100 outsourcing firms by the government, [...]
Co-op overhaul gives hedge funds control of smaller bank November 4, 2013 CO-OPERATIVE bank bosses yesterday said they had faith that the US hedge funds that now own much of its stock will not destroy the firm’s ethical principles, as they unveiled drastic plans to shrink the lender. The bank, which has been scrambling to fill a £1.5bn black hole, unveiled a radical restructure yesterday to close [...]
HSBC earnings soar as one-off expenses drop November 4, 2013 HSBC said yesterday that growth in Hong Kong and lower costs had helped push underlying profits 10 per cent higher to $5.06bn in the third quarter of the year, as the bank revealed it is being investigated in the worldwide foreign exchange probe. The bank said reported profits were up 30 per cent at $4.5bn [...]
Analyst Views: How is HSBC doing underneath all of its one-off gains? November 4, 2013 IAN GORDON | INVESTECProfit before tax is $4.5bn vs Investec $5.1bn and consensus $5.5bn. However, after adjusting for conduct costs ($0.4bn) and own credit ($0.6bn) quarter three appears roughly “in-line”. Hong Kong is a stand-out performer [and] constant currency customer loans are marginally up quarter-on-quarter too. RICHARD HUNTER | HARGREAVES LANSDOWNThe key metrics were, on [...]
GSK may avoid China charges November 4, 2013 CHINESE police investigating allegations of widespread corrupt practices at GlaxoSmithKline are likely to charge some of its Chinese executives but not the pharma giant itself, legal and industry sources say. A charge against Glaxo itself would be a much more serious outcome for the company because it would imply higher-level corporate involvement and could result [...]
Icahn adds to winning streak November 4, 2013 BILLIONAIRE Carl Icahn’s investment company, Icahn Enterprises, yesterday saw its shares jump in reaction to strong third-quarter results. Stocks rose 6.5 per cent to $108.78 yesterday after the activist investor reported revenues of $15.7bn in the first nine months of the year, well up on the $11.4bn figure from the same period last year. It [...]
AA wins licence to enter legal services sector November 4, 2013 THE AA has become the latest company to enter the legal market after being granted an alternative business structure (ABS) licence. The motoring services giant announced today it has won approval from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to operate its own legal services arm, AA Law. The new business, a joint venture with solicitors Lyons Davidson, [...]
