Ed Miliband: I’m no union puppet September 28, 2010 ED Miliband yesterday tried to distance himself from the unions who funded and supported his leadership campaign, insisting he would not support a wave of public sector strikes. In his first major speech as Labour leader, Miliband warned trade unions that “irresponsible” industrial action would alienate the public. He said: “I have no truck, and [...]
Posen: We need QE to start again September 28, 2010 QUANTITATIVE EASING (QE) must be restarted if Britain is to avoid persistent high unemployment and economic stagnation, Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member Adam Posen said yesterday. In a speech delivered in Hull yesterday, Posen was the first MPC member to call explicitly for a second round of QE. His comments put him [...]
Auditor calls for shake up September 28, 2010 GRANT Thornton, the fifth largest audit firm, has urged the government to review the market share held by the big four accounting firms in a bid to reduce threats to the financial markets should one of them fail. In a submission to the House of Lords’ inquiry into auditors, and as reported by the Financial [...]
Never trust UK economic statistics September 28, 2010 IT is becoming impossible to decipher what is happening to the economy, for one simple reason: the data is of terrible quality. Take yesterday’s revised second quarter GDP figures, unchanged at 1.2 per cent growth. But their composition has been completely revamped from when the first edition of the figures were released a few weeks [...]
BP to sell $3.5bn in bonds September 28, 2010 BP signalled a return to “business-as-usual” after the Gulf of Mexico tragedy, with plans to sell up to $3.5bn (£2.2bn) in new bonds just three days before Bob Dudley is set to take over the chief executive post. The oil major’s funding arm, BP Capital Markets, is selling five and ten-year bonds, the first such [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 28, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES FOX SAVAGES TREASURY ON DEFENCE CUTS Liam Fox, the defence secretary, has launched a big assault on the Treasury’s attempt to slash his department’s budget, warning that “draconian” cuts to military spending cannot be implemented without “grave consequences” for the Conservative party and the government. In a head-on attack on chancellor George Osborne’s [...]
Nomura banker joins Occitan September 28, 2010 Occitan Capital Partners, the new London-based hedge fund launched by two former Goldman Sachs bankers, has appointed former Nomura banker John Candillier as its new chief executive. The appointment comes just before the fund’s official launch in November. Occitan was set up by former Goldman Sachs traders, Herve Gallo and Thomas de Gardiel-Thoron, in the [...]
FSA fines and bans ex-broker September 28, 2010 The Financial Services Authority (FSA) yesterday said that it had fined Fabio Massimo De Biase, a former cash equities broker, £252,239 for acting improperly at the same time banning him from working in the financial services sector on the grounds that he is not fit to do so. De Biase, formerly a broker with TFS [...]
Rebel MEPs try to beef up hedgie laws September 28, 2010 NEW EUROPEAN rules on hedge funds and private equity groups were in disarray yesterday after French MEPs claimed they could scupper the regime’s passage into law. Talks on the Alternative Investment Fund Management Directive (AIFMD) came close to agreeing a final draft in Brussels on Monday, but yesterday dissenting politicians scrambled to arrange covert one-to-one [...]
Olympic boss named as new Network Rail chief executive September 28, 2010 DAVID Higgins is to become the next chief executive of Network Rail, it was confirmed yesterday. Higgins, who is currently top boss of the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) is to quit his role and move to Network Rail at the start of February next year. He will succeed outgoing Network Rail chief executive Iain Coucher, [...]
