FSA wants new credit controls January 27, 2010 BRITAIN’S top financial regulator yesterday called for fresh powers to control the availability of credit and ward off future asset price bubbles. “We need a new set of macro-prudential tools – not just interest rates – to address the quantity of credit,” said Lord Turner, chairman of the Financial Services Authority. He will set out [...]
Swedbank: no staff bonuses January 27, 2010 SWEDBANK, the bank most heavily exposed to the troubled Baltic region, has scrapped 2009 bonuses for most of its employees – one of the boldest moves so far to rein in bonuses amid European banks. About Skr214m (£18m) will be paid to employees whose contracts guarantee a bonus, but others will go empty handed. Swedbank [...]
BlackRock up as profits top expectations January 27, 2010 INVESTMENT manager BlackRock yesterday cheered the market with forecast-topping fourth quarter profits, although its acquisition of exchange-traded funds (ETF) business Barclays Global Investors (BGI) took some of the shine off the figures. The world’s biggest asset manager reported net income of $256m (£158m), or $1.62 a share, in the quarter to 31 December, up 392 [...]
Geithner under fire in Congress over AIG bailout January 27, 2010 AMERICAN lawmakers turned up the heat on US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner over his role in the bailout of insurer AIG, challenging his claim he did not influence a decision to keep quiet AIG payments to big banks. Both Democrats and Republicans questioned whether Geithner, who led the New York Federal Reserve Bank at the [...]
Will the iPad become the latest must-have device? January 27, 2010 APPLE’S product launches are legendary, but the hype that surrounded the unveiling of its iPad yesterday was without precedent. At first glance, the device looks like an iPhone on steroids. Its ambitions are even bigger: it is supposed to revolutionise the way we surf the internet, watch television and movies, and read books and newspapers. [...]
MPC member cautions on deflation risk January 27, 2010 THE Bank of England (BoE) may find it hard to keep inflation on target as long as import and services prices keep rising strongly, Monetary Policy Committee member Andrew Sentance said yesterday. In a speech in London, Sentance said the economy was facing opposing pressures which the BoE would have to consider when it updated [...]
The big freeze hits January retail sales as shoppers avoid high street stores January 27, 2010 THERE was more gloom for the UK’s economy yesterday after retail sales for January look likely to have stalled after snow and the VAT hike kept shoppers away from the high street. The Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) monthly distributive trades survey showed that the balance of retailers reporting an increase in sales fell to [...]
Tullow down after £1bn share placing January 27, 2010 TULLOW oil shares plunged yesterday after the company raised £1bn to fund expansion in Uganda where it hopes to gain government support for a major acquisition. Shares fell as much as 5.6 per cent after the London-based oil explorer launched the placing. The firm – which has more licences in Africa than any other UK [...]
Heavey is testing shareholder patience January 27, 2010 AS the ivory hunter Kurtz in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness taught us, trying to capitalise on Africa’s natural resources can often lead to ruin. Tullow is sure that it can steer a different course. Yesterday it launched the biggest-ever equity raising for oil exploration and production (E&P), placing some £1bn worth of new shares [...]
EX-FA BOSS BARWICK LANDS NEW CITY ROLE January 27, 2010 SOMETHING of a coup for law firm Lewis Silkin yesterday, as it announced the appointment of former Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick as a consultant in its sports law team. Barwick, of course, departed the FA under a bit of a storm cloud back in 2008, after fans and commentators alike placed the blame [...]
