Public-to-private deals for UK firms jump 40 per cent January 6, 2020 The number of “public-to-private” deals rose by 40 per cent last year compared to a year earlier, new analysis has shown, as buyers took advantage of low interest rates and cheap valuations to snap up UK firms. There were 28 agreements reached in 2019 to take UK companies off the stock market and into private [...]
Investors brace for rocky week of geopolitical tension January 5, 2020 Investors are bracing themselves for a rocky week’s trading which will be dominated by heightened tensions in the Middle East and feature a key US jobs report and many companies’ financial results. Traders started 2020 in a buoyant mood on Thursday of last week, with equity indices rising considerably. The US’s assassination of Iranian general [...]
Andrew Bailey: Three issues the new Bank of England chief will have to tackle January 5, 2020 A safe pair of hands. That’s the cliche about the new Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, who will take over the position from Mark Carney in March. The City and the British public will be hoping it is correct. Bailey does indeed have about as much experience of the BoE as it is possible [...]
French union calls for more strikes in response to pension reforms January 1, 2020 French union CGT today called for more strikes after President Emmanuel Macron used his New Year’s address to the nation to promise to push through his planned overhaul of the country’s pension system. Macron said he hoped his government would find a compromise with unions on the reforms soon, but said he would not depart [...]
Carlos Ghosn met Lebanon’s President after fleeing Japan January 1, 2020 Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn met Lebanon’s president after he fled from the Japanese justice system to the middle eastern country, according to sources close to the ex-car executive. Ghosn was apparently warmly welcomed by President Michel Aoun on Monday after being smuggled out of house arrest by a private security company, Reuters reported one [...]
China cuts banks’ reserve ratios to spur economy January 1, 2020 China’s central bank will cut the amount of cash the country’s lenders have to hold as reserves, releasing over $100bn (£75bn) into the economy in the government’s latest bid to shore up slowing economic growth. The People’s Bank of China said it will cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio by 0.5 percentage points, bringing the requirement [...]
Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland customers locked out of accounts January 1, 2020 Some customers of Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland were left unable to access their accounts on New Year’s day after Lloyds Bank suffered an outage. The issue left many customers exasperated, coming on New Year’s Day, a public holiday when bank branches are closed. Across its platforms, Lloyds group has around nine million online [...]
Google to end ‘double Irish’ tax scheme January 1, 2020 Google will stop using an intellectual property licensing scheme that let it delay paying US taxes, marking a major change in international tax practices. “We’re now simplifying our corporate structure and will license our IP (intellectual property) from the US, not Bermuda,” a spokesman said in a statement. Read more: France fines Google over anti-competitive [...]
Hong Kong police fire tear gas during mass New Year protest January 1, 2020 Hong Kong began 2020 with yet more clashes between protesters and police, with the latter firing several rounds of tear gas at crowds during a march that drew tens of thousands of people. The semi-autonomous city has been embroiled in protests for more than six months. What were originally demonstrations against an extradition law have [...]
BoE: UK lenders can withstand disastrous recession December 16, 2019 The UK’s biggest lenders are strong enough to withstand a financial earthquake stronger than the one that rocked the City in 2008, the Bank of England’s annual stress test has found. Britain’s seven biggest banks could keep lending even if UK national income slumped 4.7 per cent, unemployment surged to 9.2 per cent, and world [...]
