Child benefit reform needs a rethink October 4, 2010 WHO said nothing ever happens at political party conferences? It felt almost like another Budget day yesterday in Birmingham, with George Osborne announcing a radical, once in a generation welfare revolution. The plan is breathtaking in its ambition. The entire welfare system, with its dozens of overly complex benefits, will eventually be replaced by a [...]
US sues American Express October 4, 2010 The Justice Department sued American Express yesterday, saying its rules preventing retailers from encouraging consumers to use cheaper, rival credit cards violate antitrust law. The Justice Department settled with Visa and MasterCard, which agreed to allow merchants to offer discounts to consumers who use less expensive types of credit or debit cards. The lawsuit has [...]
BP issues €2bn euro bond October 4, 2010 Britain’s BP is borrowing €2bn (£1.72bn) from European investors via a bond issue carried out yesterday, designed to help finance a $20bn (£12.6bn) fund set up to compensate victims of its Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The cost of the deal is substantially less than investors would have demanded prior to the oil firm plugging [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 4, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES EU NATIONS WIN A YEAR’S REPRIEVE ON STATE AID European governments will be allowed to provide soft loans and other concessionary support to their banking and industrial sectors for one more year because of the lingering effects of financial crisis, according Europe’s top competition regulator. But in an interview Joaquín Almunia, European Union [...]
World Bank calls for calm on currencies October 4, 2010 World Bank President Robert Zoellick yesterday called for policy actions to quell growing tensions over currencies and to shore up confidence in the sputtering global economic recovery. Zoellick said slow growth in advanced economies and the threat of asset bubbles in booming emerging market countries present growing risks that global finance officials, who gather in [...]
Banks to boost business loans October 4, 2010 BRITAIN’S banks are set to propose a collection of measures to help boost lending to small businesses in a bid to persuade ministers they are prepared to aid long-term economic growth. A task force consisting of chief executives from every major British bank, reported by Sky News, was set up three months ago and will [...]
Twitter boss tweets in new chief as replacement October 4, 2010 TWITTER co-founder Evan Williams will hand the chief executive job to chief operational officer Dick Costolo, who joined the fast-growing microblogging company about a year ago to spearhead its money making efforts. Williams will focus completely on product strategy effective immediately, he said in his blog. Costolo joined Twitter as chief operating officer in September [...]
Alliance Boots will slash 900 jobs across the UK October 4, 2010 ALLIANCE Boots will shed 900 non-store jobs over the next three years, in a bid to cut costs. The group, which specialises in chemist and beauty services, said the cuts would not affect staff in its stores and that it hoped to achieve the cuts where possible through natural staff turnover and redeployment. Alliance Boots, [...]
KPMG joins rivals on new hiring spree October 4, 2010 BIG FOUR accounting firm KPMG has joined the ranks of its accountancy rivals as it plans to recruit 8,000 new staff across Europe within the next three years. The hiring spree, as reported in the Financial Times, will see the firm’s British arm grow by 3,000 new staff over the period. Once the recruitment drive [...]
Ireland’s growth rate cut as Budget looms October 4, 2010 Ireland’s economy will crawl to a virtual halt this year, defying government hopes of modest growth, the central bank said yesterday, underlining the challenge the country’s leaders face to revive its fortunes. Brian Cowen, the Irish Prime Minister, will unveil a four-year plan next month for tackling the worst budget deficit in the EU and [...]
