AT A GLANCE: RAIL REFORM March 8, 2012 ● Timings Transport secretary Justine Greening has put out a consultation paper in response to Sir Roy McNulty’s report into the sector last year. She hopes to see £3.5bn cut from the annual budget by 2019. ● Peak fares could rise Though the government wants to end inflation-busting fares, plans to ease congestion could include [...]
Aviva profits jump thanks to UK income March 8, 2012 INSURANCE giant Aviva beat expectations to announce a six per cent rise in operating profits to £2.5bn, driven by impressive earnings in its life insurance division. Chief executive Andrew Moss said his strategy of focusing the group on core products in just 12 key markets was paying off but singled out the British businesses for [...]
Schroders stock-picker goes March 8, 2012 BLUE-chip money manager Schroders capped one of the more turbulent years in its two-century history with the departure of its chief investment officer. Alan Brown, well-known for his annual Crystal Ball prediction evenings, will step down from his post and from the board, the firm said yesterday, as it reported a near-halving in asset management [...]
Citi chief Pandit rewarded with $14.8m for 2011 March 8, 2012 CITIGROUP chief executive Vikram Pandit finally got his payday. The third biggest US bank company paid Pandit $14.86m (£9.38m) in 2011, compared with a salary of $1 and no bonus in 2010, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Committee. The 2011 payout included salary of $1.7m and cash supplemented by a cash [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: CAN ANDREW MOSS MAINTAIN AVIVA’S GROWTH? March 8, 2012 JONATHAN JACKSON | KILLIK & CO The Aviva story is one of longer-term normalisation of earnings and returns, through improved profitability, capital discipline and cash generation. .Aviva is not going to be high growth in the short term, it is cheap on a price to earnings basis and has a high dividend yield which is [...]
Execs in Asia get best pay rises in world March 8, 2012 SALARIES at Asia-based financial services firms are growing much faster than their rivals in Europe and America, research showed yesterday. Insurance, finance and banking firms in Asian hubs like Hong Kong hiked base pay for executives by an average of five per cent last year, according to consultancy Mercer. But while firms in Europe are [...]
The pay figures are only half the story March 8, 2012 THERE is little doubt that competition for talent in financial services remains as fierce as ever. But that is naturally being reflected differently in the dynamic growing economies of the world versus the sclerotic old world. Consultancy group Mercer reports that execs in Asia can now expect a real-terms pay rise of more than double [...]
THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL SERVICES PAY GAP March 8, 2012 AMERICAS Base pay for execs set to rise 2.5 per cent this year 42 per cent of CEOs to get a pay rise EMEA Base pay set to rise less than 2 per cent this year 29 per cent of CEOs to get a pay rise ASIA PACIFIC Base pay set to rise 5 per [...]
Allied Irish job cuts hit 2,500 March 8, 2012 ALLIED Irish Banks said it has begun talks with unions to axe 2,500 jobs, 500 higher than previously announced, in the latest blow to the country’s struggling workforce. Allied Irish, which has been effectively nationalised and saved from collapse by emergency European Central Bank funding, said yesterday it would look to reduce its staff cost [...]
Treasury prices AIG offering March 8, 2012 THE US Treasury yesterday priced its $6bn (£3.8bn) AIG offering at $29 a share, allowing the Obama administration to break-even on its investment in the insurer as it winds down bailout programmes from the financial crisis. The Treasury said it would sell 206.9m shares of AIG, reducing its stake in the insurer to 70 per [...]
