Bankia’s brand new shareholders might feel like chumps after bailout talk. So they should May 7, 2012 AFTER all the fanfare that accompanied Bankia’s €3.3bn (£2.6bn) float in Spain last summer, talk of a bailout for the lender less than 10 months later could well leave its new investors feeling like chumps. And so they should. Investment bankers working on the float last year made a big song and dance about how [...]
Cameron: coalition won’t give up on its austerity programme May 7, 2012 PRIME Minister David Cameron will today warn that there is “no going back” on Britain’s austerity plan despite the financial obstacles strewn across Europe. Cameron will use a joint speech with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to underline the coalition’s focus on a “long and hard” deficit reduction programme that will help protect Britain from [...]
London calling as French set to flee tax attack May 7, 2012 LONDON is set to be a winner from the predicted exodus of high earners from France, after socialist Francois Hollande swept to power. Experts have said Britain is best-placed to benefit while mayor Boris Johnson has urged French finance workers to come here if President-elect Hollande goes through with his plan to set a tax [...]
Hungary plans €15bn loan deal to bring it back from the brink May 7, 2012 HUNGARY is seeking billions of euros in international loans over three years to stabilise its economy, a senior official said yesterday, blaming the IMF and EU for delays in starting aid talks. Central Europe’s most indebted nation needs a precautionary loan to rein in borrowing costs and prevent further cuts to its credit rating, which [...]
More economic pain in Spain May 7, 2012 SPAIN plunged further into recession as official data yesterday showed industrial output dropped sharply in the year to March, while a new study showed EU workers’ productivity falling, particularly in the crisis-hit peripheral economies. Industrial output fell 10.4 per cent in the year, official statistics agency INE revealed, following falls of 3.2 per cent in [...]
Austerity here to stay, warns German leader May 7, 2012 GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to ease tensions with new French President Francois Hollande yesterday, after she supported rival Nicolas Sarkozy in the campaign. However, she warned that the new French leader – and his currently unknown peer in Greece – will not be allowed to renegotiate the Eurozone’s fiscal discipline deal. Merkel said that [...]
Biggest French banks slash bonus payouts May 7, 2012 BNP Paribas and Societe Generale, France’s two biggest listed banks, said yesterday they were slashing their annual bonus pool for traders and top bankers after the sector was slammed by funding and capital concerns. BNP said its bonus pool was being cut by 52 per cent to €488.7m (£395m), according to a regulatory filing posted [...]
Kelvin takes on Murdoch’s Sky sport channels May 7, 2012 KELVIN MacKenzie, the ex-editor of The Sun, will today march into battle against BSkyB, potentially going head to head with its majority owner and his former employer Rupert Murdoch. Sports Tonight, the TV channel founded by MacKenzie, will today challenge the exclusive broadcast agreement between BSkyB and the Football League by lodging a complaint with [...]
Wonga is set to offer small business loans May 7, 2012 CONTROVERSIAL payday lender Wonga has begun offering loans to small businesses which can be approved in just 15 minutes. The private equity-backed lender will offer firms loans of £3,000 to £10,000 for between one and 52 weeks. Interest rates will be fixed at between 0.3 and two per cent per week, depending on the level [...]
Investors queue up to hear from Zuckerberg ahead of Facebook IPO May 7, 2012 FACEBOOK kicked off a road-show to promote its $10bn (£6.17bn) float yesterday. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg fielded questions about the social network’s slowing revenue growth and defended its $1bn purchase of Instagram, telling attendees he would do the deal again if he had to. Hundreds of investors had formed a line outside New York’s Sheraton [...]
