Murdoch’s Sky role in the balance July 18, 2011 James Murdoch’s role as chairman of BSkyB could hinge on his performance at the crunch media select committee hearing this afternoon. The heir apparent to the Murdoch empire has come under increasing pressure to relinquish the Sky chairmanship following News Corp’s handling of the phone hacking scandal. Sources close to the Sky board have told [...]
Markets see fiscal union as the solution July 18, 2011 EUROZONE negotiations showed no sign of a breakthrough yesterday in the run-up to Thursday’s crunch talks on a new Greek bailout, with markets increasingly convinced that only a full fiscal union with region-wide euro-bonds will stop the crisis spreading. Politicians, led by Germany, have been in deadlock with the European Central Bank (ECB) for weeks [...]
European idiocy at heart of crisis July 18, 2011 Once again, regulators have failed spectacularly. Gold hit £1,000 an ounce today for the first time, as equities fell, Club Med government bond yields jumped, spreads increased and the fear and loathing in the credit markets intensified – and all of that in response to the EU’s banking stress tests on Friday night, which were [...]
Bankia forced to offer investors cut-price float July 18, 2011 BANKIA, the Spanish caja group, was forced to cut its float price drastically yesterday as Eurozone turmoil threatened to derail a deal seen as vital to keeping Spain’s banks out of full nationalisation. A source close to the situation reported that those on the deal were considering shrinking its size by €100m last night, after [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 18, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES VIRGIN GROUP NAMES NEW CO-CEOS Richard Branson’s Virgin Group has announced a management reshuffle. Stephen Murphy, chief executive since 2004, will step down at the end of the year to take an advisory position in the group. He will be replaced by co-chief executives: David Baxby, head of Virgin Asia-Pacific and the aviation [...]
Lloyds shake-up as Bostock joins July 18, 2011 THE Royal Bank of Scotland’s restructuring chief, Nathan Bostock is quitting the firm to join its rival, Lloyds Banking Group, as the new head of wholesale banking. Bostock, will replace Truett Tate, the current head of wholesale banking, in early 2012. Truett is set to move to another role as a vice-chairman at Lloyds and [...]
Stress tests denounced by analysts as backward-looking and inconsistent July 18, 2011 THE EU’s second round of stress tests precipitated a sharp fall in European bank shares yesterday after being slammed as “frustrating” and full of “widespread anomalies”. Analysts were scathing about the European Banking Authority’s (EBA) first ever tests, keeping price recommendations unchanged and saying that the exercise was effectively useless as a tool for distinguishing [...]
Moody’s loses patience as US debt talks ramble on July 18, 2011 CREDIT rating agency Moody’s said yesterday that the US should scrap its debt ceiling entirely. The legislative cap creates “periodic uncertainty”, Moody’s argued, suggesting that America could adopt a “fiscal rule” to restrain deficit build-ups instead. The statement preceded another day of political sparring in the US. The possibility of America defaulting on its debts is “off [...]
Yates of Yard falls on sword over hacking July 18, 2011 ASSISTANT police commissioner John Yates yesterday followed the example set by his former boss and quit over the hacking scandal yesterday. His resignation had been widely expected after his judgement was called into question over his decision not to reopen the phone hacking investigation in 2009 and his relationship with former News of the World [...]
Lord Grabiner to oversee new damage limitation vehicle July 18, 2011 LORD Anthony Grabiner QC will head up News Corp’s new damage-limitation vehicle, named the Management and Standards Committee (MSC). He will be responsible for proving News Corp is willing to investigate wrongdoing and work with police over the hacking scandal. The 66-year-old, famed for his no-nonsense approach, became a household name in 2010 when he won [...]
