Budget fuels crisis on the high street March 22, 2012 SOME of the UK’s most senior retailers yesterday slammed the chancellor’s supposedly pro-business Budget, saying his failure to address a planned hike in business rates will deal a blow to Britain’s ailing high streets. George Osborne has said he will cut corporation tax faster than planned to 24 per cent this year. But retailers were left [...]
Branch sale in danger as Lloyds delays signing deal with Co-op March 22, 2012 LLOYDS was forced to push back the deadline for signing its sale agreement with the Co-operative Group yesterday, in the clearest sign yet that its divestment of 632 branches, known as Project Verde, is in danger. The bank said it is now aiming to clinch the deal with the Co-op in the second quarter of [...]
Vodafone is split on deal March 22, 2012 VODAFONE’S board is understood to be divided over whether to pursue a £1bn acquisition of Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWW), with some directors concerned about the reputational consequences of buying a group that has more than £5bn of UK tax losses. Chief executive Vittorio Colao is said to be broadly in favour of the deal [...]
Osborne’s middle class tax bombshell March 22, 2012 THERE was a time when the 40p income tax rate was paid only by a tiny minority. No longer. Next year, 5m taxpayers – 15 per cent of the total – will pay this higher rate, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, compared with only 3.7m a year ago. For a chancellor supposedly committed [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 22, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES SPAIN’S BORROWING COSTS SOAR Spain’s borrowing costs rose above 5.5 per cent for the first time since January as investors fretted about another escalation of the eurozone crisis amid signs of further economic weakening even in Germany. Investors pushed Spain’s benchmark 10-year bond yields up 14 basis points to as high as 5.53 [...]
Regulators say they want competition but actions speak louder than words March 22, 2012 WHAT does the FSA want? Like all of us, the regulator wants to have it all: a high street banking sector that is both competitive and ultra-safe. But when push comes to shove, it is clear where the watchdog’s priorities lie. Its commitment to competition has been sorely tested by Lloyds’ branch sale. First there was [...]
Unemployment claims in the US at four year low March 22, 2012 THE NUMBER of Americans claiming new unemployment benefits dropped to a four-year low last week, offering further evidence that the jobs market recovery was gaining traction. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest level since February 2008. And a separate report showed a gauge of future US economic [...]
Day of change at UBS and Bank of America March 22, 2012 YESTERDAY was a day of musical chairs at two of the City’s top investment banks as both UBS and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BoAML) made significant management changes. UBS, the bank still reeling from the after-effects of the rogue trader scandal, indicated its intention to remain a major force in investment banking by hiring [...]
CHANGING OF THE GUARD AT BANK OF AMERICA MERRILL LYNCH March 22, 2012 ANDREA ORCEL Andrea Orcel’s departure will leave a big gap at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. In a world where contacts and relationships matter so much, the suave late 40s banker had it all. His contacts include Santander, Danske Bank, Unicredit (where he helped BoAML take a lead role in the rights issue earlier this [...]
What did you make of chancellor George Osborne’s latest Budget? March 22, 2012 This week we are asking members of our Voice of the City panel, run in conjunction with PoliticsHome, what they thought of the Budget. Was it a good idea to raise the level of tax free allowance? And was Osborne right to bring the top rate down to 45p from next year? Are you one [...]
