WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 28, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES PLANS REVEALED FOR US-STYLE PLEA BARGAINS The UK plans to introduce US-style corporate plea bargains that could result in fines totalling hundreds of millions of pounds, according to the Solicitor General. “You have to have a cost-benefit analysis. If I can produce a system which has all the benefits [of the US] and [...]
Brit heads up new Walmart arm September 28, 2011 American supermarket behemoth Walmart has shaken up its top team, and has chosen British exec David Cheesewright to head a new division encompassing the UK, Canada and Sub-Saharan Africa. Cheesewright, the former chief operating officer of Walmart-owned Asda, was most recently chief exec of Canadian operations.
UBS boss asks for less risky bank September 28, 2011 UBS interim chief Sergio Ermotti appealed to staff in an internal memo to back efforts to make the bank less complex and risky yesterday, following the $2.3bn (£1.5bn) loss from unauthorised trading. Ermotti told workers he has “no magic recipe to inspire you to redouble your efforts. I can only appeal to your professionalism, your [...]
More suitors are sizing up LME September 28, 2011 Interest in the London Metal Exchange as a takeover target has snowballed and the number of suitors has risen to double digits because business is booming with volumes at record levels, its chief executive Martin Abbott said yesterday.
Banks in sigh of relief over Vickers rules September 28, 2011 JOHN Vickers has privately reassured Britain’s biggest banks that they will not need to issue billions in complex new debt instruments to comply with his recommendations. City A.M. understands that several anxious lenders sought informal clarification from Vickers’ Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) recently and were told definitively that they will not have to invent [...]
Miner ENRC unveils a board revamp but keeps chairman September 28, 2011 KAZAKH miner ENRC yesterday announced an overhaul of its board following a three-month governance review triggered by a boardroom row, which resulted in the exit of two well-known directors. The FTSE 100 miner, which has been subject to long-running tensions between the group’s founder shareholders and some board members, confirmed that Johannes Sittard will remain [...]
Spanish government postpones privatisation of national lottery September 28, 2011 SPAIN has suspended the planned float of its state lottery due to the parlous state of the stock markets. It had hoped to raise up to €9.5bn (£8.3bn) and help convince markets its public finances are in order. What would have been Spain’s biggest-ever initial public offering had met with fierce resistance from the People’s [...]
FPC: Eurozone crisis could freeze credit September 28, 2011 THE ECONOMIC threat from the Eurozone crisis yesterday prompted the Bank of England’s new regulatory body to urge banks to boost lending. While praising the banks’ recent record in building up buffers of capital, the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) said that bonuses and dividends should be cut in order to release sufficient credit to businesses. [...]
BEHIND THE LINES | WE ANALYSE THE FPC STATEMENT September 28, 2011 “Banks should take any opportunity they had to strengthen their levels of capital… without constraining lending… This could include raising long-term funding whenever possible and ensuring that discretionary distributions reflected any reduction in profits. ” The Financial Policy Committee is happy with banks building up their liquidity levels to protect themselves from future shocks – [...]
London defies house price slump September 28, 2011 House prices in London rose by 0.5 per cent in August, the Land Registry said yesterday – despite prices dipping by 0.3 per cent across the rest of the UK. The average house in the capital now costs £348,686, more than double the national average.
