Barroso hits out at bias in downgrades July 6, 2011 EUROPE lashed out at ratings agencies yesterday after a Moody’s downgrade of Portugal sent peripheral debt costs soaring across the continent. In a sign of growing frustration among EU officials, European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso attacked ratings agencies for being anti-European. “It seems strange that there is not a single rating agency coming from [...]
Almost a third of banks could fail EU stress tests July 6, 2011 MORE than a quarter of the European Union’s major banks are set to fail the region’s stress tests, which are expected to be released next week, Moody’s said yesterday. The agency said 26 out of 91 banks being tested are likely to need extra government assistance. Banks are anxiously awaiting the results of the tests, which [...]
Fraud office to look into ETFs July 6, 2011 THE Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has launched a probe into the burgeoning market for Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) to establish whether it has the tools to prosecute wrongdoing in the industry. The agency, which prosecutes white collar crime, is examining the risks posed by the products and to what extent they could be open to [...]
Germany calls for bond swap July 6, 2011 GERMANY has put a Greek bond swap back on the table as a model for private sector involvement in fresh aid for Athens, German finance ministers said yesterday. The country’s renewed positive stance on the bond swap plan comes after warnings from ratings agencies that France’s plan of a bond rollover would amount to a [...]
Advertisers ditch tabloid July 6, 2011 BLUE-CHIP companies’ boycott of the News of the World following the fresh revelations in the phone hacking scandal could cost News International millions of pounds in lost advertising revenue, according to analysts. The tabloid generates about £35m in annual advertising revenue, and as much as half of this could be lost to rival Trinity Mirror [...]
Cut-throat rivalry partly to blame July 6, 2011 EARLY one morning in a village in southern France I went to buy a paper, and much to my amusement they only had yesterday’s Le Monde – but that day’s Times. The daily availability of British newspapers across Europe is a product of something the British seldom appreciate – their newspapers are by far the [...]
FIT AND PROPER TEST July 6, 2011 Q.COULD OFCOM STOP NEWS CORP’S BID FOR BSKYB? A.No. But it could intervene once News Corp has bought the satellite company and withdraw its broadcasting licence on the grounds that it is not a “fit and proper” owner of television channels. Q.IS OFCOM LIKELY TO SAY NEWS CORP DOESN’T PASS THE TEST? A.It doesn’t have [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD THE HACKING SCANDAL AFFECT THE BSKYB MERGER? July 6, 2011 NOJAN BASERI | LONDON STONE SECURITIES “No. I don’t think the two issues have a lot to do with eachother. The hacking scandal shouldn’t impact on the deal. It’s more of a competition issue. I would expect it to go through without too many problems.” MIKE ALSTON | CATLIN “Maybe. It’s more an issue of competition [...]
Inmarsat to split top roles at end of year July 6, 2011 SATELLITE owner and operator Inmarsat announced a long-expected restructuring of its top team to split the chief executive and chairman roles yesterday. Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat’s senior vice president of its Inmarsat Enterprises business, will become its new group chief executive from January 2012. He replaces Andrew Sukawaty, who has led FTSE 350-ranked Inmarsat as chairman [...]
Numis relieved by Rock Well result July 6, 2011 INDEPENDENT bank and broker Numis Securities yesterday settled a long-running legal case relating to a private share placing it led in 2007. Numis said it had paid out £5m without admitting liability in relation to a decision made by its client Rock Well Petroleum not to refer in placing documents to a law suit that [...]
