Time is running out to save capitalism from the capitalists September 26, 2013 CORPORATE Britain has a big problem. It has lost the PR wars. Even though firms create wealth and jobs and the tax revenues that pay for the public sector, as well as invent and produce products and medicines that improve our lives, they are, as a group, held in low regard. I write this with [...]
Italian coalition on the brink over Berlusconi September 26, 2013 ITALIAN Prime Minister Enrico Letta returns from a visit to New York today to face the threat of a government collapse following renewed threats from Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right party to pull out of his fragile coalition. Letta will immediately meet President Giorgio Napolitano to discuss the crisis, which has loomed ever closer since Berlusconi was [...]
Serco in fraud probe over tags for the dead September 26, 2013 OUTSOURCING firm Serco could face a fraud probe after a government report alleged it was charging for electronically tagging criminals who were either dead, in prison, or had never been tagged. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) yesterday confirmed that the Ministry of Justice has asked it to consider a full-blown investigation into the firm, following [...]
What the other papers say this morning – 27 September 2013 September 26, 2013 FINANCIAL TIMES Rabobank to settle over Libor Rabobank, the Dutch lender, is on track to settle as early as next month allegations that it helped to manipulate key benchmark interbank rates. The expected settlement with US, UK and Dutch authorities is forecast to be less than the £390m paid by the Royal Bank of Scotland [...]
Heathrow hits out at Gatwick in airport tussle September 26, 2013 HEATHROW has lashed out at its smaller London rival Gatwick on the final day of submissions to the government’s airports commission. Europe’s biggest airport by passenger traffic has today told the Davies Commission that 20 airlines have stopped long-haul flights to Gatwick in the last five years. Heathrow claims these cancellations show that Gatwick cannot [...]
Bank of England given power to supervise Help to Buy plans September 26, 2013 GEORGE Osborne has given the Bank of England powers to review his flagship Help to Buy housing scheme, a Bank official confirmed last night, in response to criticism that it could result in the market overheating. The programme, due to launch in January 2014, will offer hefty state guarantees on homes worth up to £600,000, [...]
Current account swapping edges up on seven-day switch system September 26, 2013 THE FIRST 10 days of the new seven-day switching system saw 35,000 current account customers move to a new bank or building society, the Payments Council revealed yesterday. That is an increase of six per cent on the level of switching in an average 10-day period through 2012. New systems were introduced in an effort [...]
Candy Crush developer plans US float September 26, 2013 THE LONDON company behind the addictive Candy Crush Saga game is preparing for a potential IPO in New York, it emerged last night. King, which is based in Soho, has filed a confidential filing with US authorities noting its intention to float, according to the Daily Telegraph. King makes its money by giving its games [...]
Lloyd’s boss in warning over industry boom September 26, 2013 LLOYD’S of London could do more to cut transaction costs for member syndicates, its chairman admitted yesterday, as he warned the insurance industry to prepare itself for an astonishing period of transformation. “We cannot be complacent,” John Nelson told City A.M. “There is work to be done. In other industries they – to be frank – pay more [...]
Fed’s Stein would have backed QE taper in September meeting September 26, 2013 FED BOARD member Jeremy Stein suggested yesterday that he would have been happy if the tapering of QE had begun in September. In a Frankfurt speech, Stein said: “I would have been comfortable with the FOMC’s beginning to taper its asset purchases at the September meeting.” Stein added that the most important element of tapering [...]
