Credit crunch hits UK saving habits hard March 2, 2011 MORE than one in three British adults are failing to save any money at all, research showed today. The after effects of recession, credit crunch and soaring living costs have combined to produce a generation of lost savers, according to a survey by YouGov and Scottish Widows. The proportion of people saving has plummeted from [...]
Dead-end courses slammed as Gove plans education shake-up March 2, 2011 HUNDREDS of thousands of teenagers in Britain study subjects that lead them towards a “dead end”, according to an influential report released today. The independent Wolf review, commissioned by education secretary Michael Gove, claims up to 400,000 16-19 year olds take courses that do not lead to higher education or good jobs. It says students [...]
SEC proposes to clamp down on bonuses and pay at broker firms March 2, 2011 US securities regulators issued a proposal yesterday to curb bonuses at brokerage and investment advisory firms over the objections of Republicans on the panel and even some doubts expressed by chairman Mary Schapiro. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted 3-2 to issue for comment a plan for the wealth management industry that is substantially [...]
Jaguar Land Rover delivers a vote of confidence in Britain March 2, 2011 CAR manufacturer Jaguar Land Rover has handed out more than £2bn in supply contracts under new plans revealed yesterday. Owned by Indian carmaker Tata Motors, the company has signed deals with more than 40 British suppliers in order to produce its new Range Rover Evoque vehicle. The move will create thousands of jobs, which will [...]
FIRST LOOK AT THE IPAD 2 March 2, 2011 The iPad 2 is better, faster, slicker. Rivals hoping to muscle in may as well pack up and go home – if you want a tablet, nothing comes close to this. LAST night I got my hands on one of the first iPad 2s in the country. Steve Jobs, looking positively healthy for a man [...]
Profits rise as bad loans fall at StanChart March 2, 2011 A DROP in loan impairments across the board saw Standard Chartered push its pre-tax profits up 19 per cent to $6.12bn (£3.75bn), the bank’s full-year results showed yesterday. Bad loans were down 68 per cent in wholesale banking, which accounts for most of the bank’s revenues, and 45 per cent in its consumer business. Standard [...]
Fighting a war for talent won’t be cheap March 2, 2011 WHEN Peter Sands addressed investors yesterday, he did so safe in the knowledge that the bank has notched up eight consecutive years of growth. It is an accomplishment made all the more impressive because it was achieved despite the near implosion of the banking sector in 2008. The only dark spot in an otherwise robust [...]
Lisbon hangs on in debt sale March 2, 2011 PORTUGAL managed to sell off €1bn (£850m) worth of debt at a short-dated bond auction yesterday, with one-year yields rising to 4.06 per cent from 3.99 per cent for similarly dated bonds at its last sale. But with the scale of European Central Bank (ECB) intervention unclear, markets are still waiting to see a comprehensive [...]
Green light given to Hitachi for £4.5bn train fleet order March 2, 2011 THE GREEN light has been given for a fleet of new high-speed trains to be built to serve routes to London. The government yesterday said it would press ahead with plans to replace Britain’s ageing InterCity fleet with trains built by Japanese conglomerate Hitachi. It has placed a £4.5bn order for 500 carriages with the [...]
MERKEL APPOINTS NEW DEFENCE CHIEF March 2, 2011 CHANCELLOR Angela Merkel wasted no time filling the defence ministry post vacated by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, her loyalist Cabinet member who resigned on Tuesday following accusations that he plagiarised his doctoral thesis. Merkel appointed Thomas de Maizière to the post yesterday. Merkel’s power has been weakened recently by mid-term election losses.
