WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 6, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Bank staff costs take bigger share of pot The world’s big international banks are paying out much more on staff costs relative to profits since the financial crisis while slashing the portion of income paid out in dividends, according to data compiled by the Financial Times. The findings come amid increasing shareholder complaints [...]
Barclays wins Lehman ruling June 6, 2012 Barclays is entitled to recover roughly $1.8bn of disputed assets and interest related to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s bankruptcy, a US federal judge said yesterday, reversing a decision by a federal bankruptcy judge. The decision by US District Judge Katherine Forrest in Manhattan is a setback for James Giddens, the trustee of Lehman’s brokerage unit [...]
Fed’s Fisher warns against QE June 6, 2012 Policymakers at the Federal Reserve “must keep their heads about them” after a wave of weak economic data and resist simply seeking to solve problems with looser monetary policy, a top official said yesterday. Dallas Fed president Richard Fisher warned it should not be an “accomplice to the mischief” of fiscal policymakers in Washington who [...]
Jubilee attracts two million to West End June 6, 2012 SOME two million visitors flocked to the West End over the bank holiday weekend, as the capital went into full swing celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Theatres, hotels, restaurants and retailers are together expected to have made more than £120m over the four-day weekend, according to the New West End company, which represents 600 firms [...]
Queen marks 60-year reign with City service June 5, 2012 QUEEN Elizabeth II rounded off her four-day Diamond Jubilee yesterday on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony after celebrating in the City. A thanksgiving service, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, was held yesterday morning at St Paul’s Cathedral to commemorate the monarch’s sixty year reign. The Queen then attended a reception, hosted by the Lord [...]
BP hit by fresh court fight over TNK-BP stake June 5, 2012 OIL major BP is facing renewed investor pressure in Russia after a court reopened a $13bn (£8.5bn) lawsuit linked to its TNK-BP venture. The Russian court said minority shareholders in TNK-BP can restart their fight over last year’s failed tie-in with oil explorer Rosneft. The shareholders complained that BP’s £10bn plan to join forces with [...]
A leaner firm already looks like a better takeover target than its rebellious Russian oil subsidiary June 5, 2012 BP has been saying for years that it wants to be a smaller, leaner firm. Lopping off its occasionally combative but always lucrative Russian arm is nevertheless a radical way to streamline. TNK-BP accounted for 29 per cent of BP’s production and 16 per cent of its 2011 profits. And when its “noisy, not dysfunctional” [...]
Spain close to financial crisis but euro exit is not imminent June 5, 2012 SPAIN is teetering on the brink of a severe financial crisis but is unlikely to leave the Eurozone any time soon, according to our readers’ panel. Asked to rate Europe’s weaker economies on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being close to a severe financial crisis), the panel gave Spain a score of 2.5. [...]
Tyrie: IMF must get tough with EU on bailouts June 5, 2012 THE IMF should stop treating Brussels as a partner in Eurozone bailout talks and show some “toughness”, according to Andrew Tyrie, chair of the influential Treasury committee of MPs. In a paper for the Centre for Policy Studies, Tyrie also suggests the IMF’s “credibility is on the line” and that Britain and other non-Eurozone countries [...]
Even Germany feels the pain as output falls June 5, 2012 ALL FOUR of the largest Eurozone economies contracted last month, survey data showed yesterday, as official figures revealed retail sales are plummeting across much of the area. Markit’s composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) came in at a near three-year low of 46, down from 46.7 in April, indicating an accelerating decline in private sector activity. [...]
