Any Other Business – 18/03 March 18, 2014 Forget the huge salaries and enormous bonuses – it seems one of the banking giants’ biggest perks may be the boardroom banquet. While many of us mere mortals are nipping out for a sandwich, a new wave of the UK’s finest chefs are apparently honing their skills to feed the upper echelons of finance. Proof [...]
Asian markets rally as investors shrug off sanctions March 18, 2014 Asian markets are rising as tensions in the Crimea cooled and investors failed to be significantly deterred by the limited US and EU sanctions imposed on Russia. The EU and the US imposed asset freezes and visa restrictions for a small number of Russian officials. However, markets will be keeping a close watch on the [...]
City A.M.’s bumper Budget preview March 17, 2014 As chancellor George Osborne gets ready to unveil the penultimate budget before the general election, we've pulled together all the expected announcements, and what others are hoping for. Deficit Due to the scale of the budget deficit Ernst & Young believe the chancellor has little room for manoeuvre in terms of giveaways. While the Office [...]
Bitcoin bugs invest $10m in China’s largest exchange March 17, 2014 Despite China's recent crackdown, cyptocurrency Bitcoin has been given a new lease of life in the world's second largest economy. The company that claims to be China's largest Bitcoin exchange by volume has announced a $10m Series A funding round. Venture Capital firm Ceyuan led the way and was followed by Mandra Capital, Ventures Lab and [...]
Nakamoto “unconditionally denies” Newsweek Bitcoin story March 17, 2014 The man Newsweek claims to be the father of Bitcoin has issued an unconditional denial that he had anything to do with the creation of the cryptocurrency, reports Reuters Felix Salmon. The American magazine claimed the 64-year old Dorian Satoshi Nakamoto was the same person as Satoshi Nakamoto who invented Bitcoin. Nakamoto has denied any [...]
Just-Eat set to become a public company March 17, 2014 Fast food site Just-Eat has confirmed its intention to float in London and hopes to raise as much as £100m from its primary offering. SM Trust, Index Ventures, Vitruvian Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Greylock Partners are expected to sell some their shareholding in the offer. Just-Eat, which was founded in Denmark in 2001 and operates [...]
Vodafone confirms £6bn Ono deal March 17, 2014 Vodafone has confirmed a deal to buy Spanish cable operator Ono with an offer that values the firm at €7.2bn (£6bn). Ono is the second-largest provider of broadband internet, pay television and fixed services in Spain, a market in which Vodafone has seen a reduction in both mobile customer numbers and earnings in recent years. [...]
Asian shares slide after Crimea vote March 17, 2014 Asian shares have taken a hit as Western leaders condemned the controversial referendum in Crimea as a “mockery of proper democratic practice,” even as Russia claimed it had won a 95.5 per cent mandate for it to annex the Ukrainian province. President Obama’s spokesman said “the international community will not recognise the results of a [...]
Singapore becomes latest jurisdiction to clamp down on Bitcoin March 13, 2014 Singapore is set to regulate Bitcoin exchanges to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a statement that exchanges will have to identify their customers and report suspicious transactions to the relevant authorities. The MAS said in a statement: Regulation of virtual currency intermediaries pertains specifically to the [...]
What this UN boss gets wrong on drug prohibition March 13, 2014 As representaives from countries around the world prepare to meet in Vienna to discuss how to tackle the $320bn (£192bn) drug trade, the executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) has defended the current system of drug control. Speaking to BBC Radio 4, Yury Fedotov said: I would not say [...]
