King: Inflation will drop back March 1, 2011 SENIOR doves from the Bank of England saw off their hawkish colleagues at a Treasury select committee in Westminster yesterday, insisting that inflation will fall back to target. Leading the way was Bank governor Mervyn King, who said the “broad judgement” on his monetary policy committee (MPC) showed a drop in prices once “temporary” factors [...]
Why gazelles and giants both matter March 1, 2011 SHOULD you work for a big company or a small one? To me, the answer is simple: the smaller, nimbler and the more entrepreneurial the firm, the better. But as figures out yesterday demonstrate, there is a reason why many people would prefer to work for larger institutions. The top 100 firms in the UK [...]
Morrison sells off his stake in grocery chain March 1, 2011 SIR Ken Morrison, former chairman of Wm Morrison Supermarkets, has sold off his 6.07 per cent share in the grocers to less than one per cent over the last 18 months, the company has revealed. Wm Morrison said that it was notified yesterday of its former chief’s dealings, which have seen him sell over 130m [...]
Gupta is charged by SEC March 1, 2011 A FORMER Goldman Sachs Group director leaked secret details to Galleon Group hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam about Warren Buffett’s plan to invest $5bn (£3bn) in the Wall Street bank at the height of the financial crisis, according to US securities regulator charges yesterday. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said the director, Rajat [...]
What the other papers say this morning March 1, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES TOP 10 HEDGE FUNDS MAKE $28BN The top 10 hedge funds made $28bn for clients in the second half of last year, $2bn more than the net profits of Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, Barclays and HSBC combined, according to new data. Even the biggest of the hedge funds have only a [...]
Pearson stops Libya payout as oil surges March 1, 2011 PENGUIN publisher Pearson yesterday took the unprecedented step of freezing dividend payments to Libya as pressure on the crumbling regime reached fever pitch. The firm cut all payments for the Libyan Investment Authority’s (LIA) 3.27 per cent holding “until further notice,” pointing to UN security sanctions on the country. The shock move came as oil [...]
Ofcom sides with Virgin in the battle of the broadband March 1, 2011 OFCOM yesterday sided with Virgin in the broadband war, ruling that firms must advertise “typical” rather than “maximum” internet speeds. BT – the major loser from the ruling given its high proliferation in low-speed rural areas – said it has “real concerns” with the decision, which it said could encourage “digital exclusion”. Ofcom found that [...]
Senior HSBC bankers in London get half the pay of those abroad March 1, 2011 SENIOR HSBC bankers based in London are getting less than half the pay of their non-UK counterparts, figures released by the bank have shown. UK-based senior staff pocketed an average of £1.22m in total pay last year, of which £927,000 was bonus payments, whereas equivalent staff based outside the UK took home more than double [...]
Citi sells Egg credit cards to Barclays March 1, 2011 BARCLAYS is buying the UK credit card portfolio of Egg from the online bank’s US owner Citi, transferring more than 1m customer accounts to the Barclaycard brand. The value of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, has not been disclosed, but Barclay’s said it was buying the assets at a “significant discount” to [...]
Horta-Osorio speeds-up Lloyds sale plans on day one March 1, 2011 THE NEW chief executive of Lloyds is stepping up plans to sell more than 600 branches operated by the state-backed lender. António Horta-Osório, the former head of Spanish bank Santander’s UK operations, took his place at the helm yesterday. His tenure began with a bang, as the bank revealed it would push ahead with plans [...]
