Santander to close 56 branches March 26, 2012 Spain’s Santander is closing 56 branches in Britain to remove overlap in its network after it bolted together three separate businesses, which left it with two branches side by side in some places. Santander’s purchase of Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley during the 2008 financial crisis came four years after it bought Abbey [...]
EasyJet losses narrow March 26, 2012 EasyJet said it expected its first-half loss to be narrower than previously thought as cost control measures and better marketing help the British budget airline offset continuing weakness in the sector. “In a difficult environment for all airlines, improvements in revenue management combined with marketing and website initiatives have enabled EasyJet to take advantage as [...]
Aberdeen sees client cash bounce back March 26, 2012 Aberdeen Asset Management’s clients added £1.48bn of new money to its range of funds in first two months of the year, as investors recovered their appetite for risk and returned to buying equity products. In a trading update on Monday, Aberdeen said its assets under management rose to £184.4bn pounds at end-February, up from £173.9bn [...]
Shells scrambles to pay off $1bn Iran oil debt March 26, 2012 Royal Dutch Shell is struggling to pay off $1bn that it owes Iran for crude oil because European Union and U.S. financial sanctions now make it almost impossible to process payments, industry sources said. Four sources said the oil major owes a large sum to the National Iranian Oil Co (NIOC) for deliveries of crude, [...]
Eni still owed $1bn worth of oil by Iran March 23, 2012 Eni, Italy’s biggest energy company, is demanding more than $1bn (£632m) worth of crude oil by Iran, despite the EU banning oil imports from the country. EU governments with existing contracts to import crude from Iran can continue until July 1. However Eni was excused because it does not buy oil from Iran but receives [...]
BoE calls on banks to raise more capital March 23, 2012 British banks need to raise fresh capital “as early as feasible” as the stability of the global financial system remains fragile, the Bank of England’s new risk watchdog. The Bank’s Financial Policy Committee said that banks had gone as far as they could to raise capital by keeping down pay, dividends and share buybacks. “But [...]
John Lewis sales rise March 23, 2012 John Lewis sales boosted by sun, mum, and iPads Kendal Gapinski John Lewis reported that last week’s volume of trade was a March record due to sunny weather, Mother’s Day, and the launch of the new iPad. Its sales jumped 20.9 per cent year-on-year to £63.1m. Britain’s biggest department store chain said that a sales [...]
FTSE edges up despite retail fears March 23, 2012 The FTSE 100 bounced back in early trading after falls mainly triggered by miners who are fearful of a slowdown of growth in China. However, gains were minimal with the tough climate for UK retailers being laid bare by data from Nationwide today showing that consumer morale is weakening. Blue chip retailer Kingfisher, which owns [...]
Japan’s AIJ loses $1.3bn with bad bets March 23, 2012 Tokyo-based AIJ Investment Advisors lost $1.3bn (£819.2m) in bad bets on equity and bond derivatives, losing the bulk of the pension funds it was managing, Japan’s financial regulator said on Friday after stripping the firm of its registration. The Financial Services Agency (FSA) said AIJ, whose offices were earlier raided by the Securities and Exchange [...]
Credit Suisse boss’s pay halved to £4m March 23, 2012 The pay of Credit Suisse chief executive Brady Dougan (pictured) fell by more than half last year to 5.8m Swiss francs (£4m) in salary and share-based bonuses as the bank’s profit shrank 62 percent and its stock dropped 41 per cent. “This level of compensation reflects the lower financial performance compared to the prior year [...]
