Boris calls for tougher laws October 4, 2010 BORIS Johnson has called for a change to Britain’s trade union laws, in a bid to prevent a repeat of yesterday’s crippling Tube strikes. The London mayor used his speech at the Tory party conference in Birmingham to call for new legislation, which would force trade unions to win the support of 50 per cent [...]
TfL beats chaos as Tube keeps running October 4, 2010 TRANSPORT for London (TfL) operated 40 per cent of its Tube services yesterday as the second 24-hour strike launched by trade unions RMT and Transport Salaried Staffs’ Association (TSSA), hit the capital. The transport group said that 10 of the 11 lines that make up the Underground network ran services yesterday as the strike, which [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS BORIS RIGHT? SHOULD STRIKES BE STOPPED? October 4, 2010 NICK LAWTON | FDM GROUP “Since the Tube workers have abused the right to strike for so long, the Mayor has a point. These lot are making a joke of it by striking on a regular basis.” SAM DAVYSON | THREADNEEDLE “No, I don’t think Boris has a point. It’s a good thing that the [...]
IoD: New tax could drive banks abroad October 4, 2010 THE Institute of Directors (IoD) has warned the government that plans to introduce a banking levy could drive banking business overseas. The IoD claimed the tax is a knee-jerk reaction designed to tap into anti-bank sentiment. It said that the proportionally large UK tax – £2.5bn a year compared to €1.2bn (£1bn) in Germany – [...]
The UK bank levy risks tarring banks as toxic October 4, 2010 THE Treasury’s consultation on the introduction of a UK bank levy closes today. Draft legislation will be published in the autumn for further comment and the final draft will be published towards the end of the year. The levy will be introduced from 1 January 2011. As that hurried timetable suggests, the consultation is concerned [...]
HSBC’s Geoghegan warns of risk from uncertainty of UK regulation October 4, 2010 HSBC’s chief executive said while Europe’s biggest bank was happy to keep its base in London, uncertainty about regulation and the business climate were risks to the city as a leading financial centre. “Uncertainty is currently the biggest risk to the City’s competitiveness,” Michael Geoghegan, who will step down from the role at the end [...]
ENLARGED RETURNS TO GREET M&S SHOPPERS October 4, 2010 FINALLY – the working man’s answer to the wonderbra has arrived: M&S has just unveiled its brand new range of “enhancing underpants” for men. The pants come in two styles: “a bum-lift pant” and a “frontal enhancement pant”, one intended to project the image of a well-firmed posterior and the other giving City money men [...]
Swiss banks hit by tough new credit ratio rules October 4, 2010 Switzerland has imposed strict new rules on UBS and Credit Suisse, telling them to hold far more capital than their international rivals to ward off a crisis that could cripple the country. The two banks must hold an equity tier one capital ratio of at least 10 per cent under the proposals laid out by [...]
Physical gold back in vogue for super-rich October 4, 2010 The world’s wealthiest people have responded to economic worries by buying bars of gold, sometimes by the tonne, and moving assets out of the financial system, bankers catering to the very rich said yesterday. UBS executive Joef Stadler told the Reuters Global Private Banking Summit that fears of a double-dip downturn had boosted the appetite [...]
Construction outlook weak October 4, 2010 Activity in the construction sector picked up in September, but firms’ confidence about the future fell to an 18-month low on worries about government spending cuts, a survey of purchasing managers showed yesterday. The Markit/Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply construction PMI rose to 53.8 in September from 52.1 in August, confounding expectations for an [...]
