Serco draws up shortlist to fill chief role after Hyman resigns October 28, 2013 A SHORTLIST of candidates has already been drawn up to take on the top role at outsourcing firm Serco after Chris Hyman’s shock resignation on Friday, according to reports. Ian Tyler, the former chief executive of FTSE 250 construction firm Balfour Beatty, is reportedly one of the leading contenders and Andy Parker, joint chief operating [...]
Ketchup shake-up as McDonald’s drops Heinz October 28, 2013 MCDONALD’S is to end its 40-year relationship with ketchup-maker Heinz after Bernardo Hees, the former boss of rival Burger King, took over as Heinz’s chief executive. Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and investment firm 3G Capital bought Heinz in June, naming Hees as chief executive. McDonald’s said on Friday that as a result it plans to [...]
RBS may dodge split by cutting bad loans faster October 28, 2013 RBS COULD be forced to wind down its toxic assets and sell off its overseas arm more quickly than expected, rather than being broken up fully into a good bank and bad bank, under plans to be presented to the chancellor in the near future. The state-backed bank is under threat of being broken up [...]
City authorities will investigate Co-op Bank’s capital black hole October 28, 2013 THE BANK Of England will study what went wrong at the Co-op Bank and whether the regulators could have done more about it sooner, it emerged this weekend. The Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) found a £1.5bn capital hole at the bank earlier this year, leading to a change of management at the bank, as well [...]
Q and A: What could happen to RBS? October 28, 2013 Q Is the bank going to be split up? What would that mean? A One option is to carve out RBS’ bad assets, largely in Ulster Bank, into a state-backed bad bank. This would be similar to what happened to Northern Rock and would improve RBS’ balance sheet, letting it lend more. Q That sounds [...]
Firms protest against bank ringfence plan October 28, 2013 LEADING British businesses have written to the government to oppose plans to make banks split their retail and investment banking arms, it was reported yesterday. The firms are believed to be concerned about the effect such a move will have on the availability of hedging products. Relevant legislation is currently in the final stages of [...]
UK lags Europe as deal activity set to improve on the continent October 28, 2013 BRITISH financiers are among the gloomiest in Europe, according to a study out today from Mergermarket and law firm CML. One-fifth expect merger and acquisition deal volumes to fall next year, the most downbeat in Europe and on a par with those based in Spain and Portugal. And just 44 per cent expect deal levels [...]
French government backtracks over savings tax after uprising October 28, 2013 THE FRENCH government was yesterday forced to backtrack on its planned savings levy on the middle classes after violent protest over the latest round of tax hikes. The decision came a day after a protester had his hand ripped off during clashes over a new “eco-tax” on freight lorries. President François Hollande is also involved [...]
Fall in homes for sale boosts prices further October 28, 2013 LONDON’S house prices jumped again in October, according to data out today from Hometrack, as supply of homes dropped but demand kept on rising. Nationally prices increased by 0.5 per cent in the month, with London leading the way at 0.8 per cent. That means that over the last 12 months London’s prices have risen [...]
Most influential women named in finance list October 28, 2013 SENIOR women from BlackRock, HSBC, Nasdaq OMX and JP Morgan have all been named in the annual FN100 Women 2013 – a list of the most influential female executives working in European financial markets. The list, compiled by Financial News and released this morning, includes 10 chief executives, five chairmen, five chief operating officers and [...]
