CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 25, 2010 Chartered Insurance Institute Chris Hanks, currently a management board member at Allianz UK, has been elected as the 114th president of the CII, taking over from Fortis UK chief executive Barry Smith. Hanks, pictured, joined Allianz in 1999 and is currently general manager responsible for the commercial business at Allianz UK. In addition, Julian James, [...]
BPP becomes a university July 25, 2010 HIGHER education college BPP, which specialises in business and law degrees, is to become the first private provider to gain university college status in nearly three and a half decades. Universities and skills minister David Willetts will today award BPP the university college title, three years after it was granted degree-awarding powers. The move is [...]
The world’s centre of gravity is moving East July 25, 2010 THE Prime Minister, who leads a delegation of senior ministers including George Osborne, William Hague and Vince Cable to India this week, is right to commit his government to building a “special partnership” with Delhi. The world’s centre of gravity is moving East. Washington is shifting its attention from its post WWII Atlantic allies to [...]
Treasury committee to grill King July 25, 2010 MERVYN King, the governor of the Bank of England, will this week appear in front of the Treasury committee to give evidence on the findings of the quarterly Inflation Report in May, when the Bank raised its short-term inflation forecast in the face of stubborn price resilience. At the time, King said the monetary policy [...]
Business chiefs join PM in trade mission to India July 25, 2010 DAVID Cameron will this week lead this country’s strongest ever trade mission to India, in a drive to boost cooperation between the UK and one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. Over 50 of the UK’s top business leaders will join the Prime Minister, chancellor George Osborne, foreign secretary William Hague, business secretary Vince [...]
Red Knight’s bid for United may go ahead July 25, 2010 A BID to wrest control of Manchester United could be back on after a fans’ campaign against its American owners appears to have taken hold. The club was forced to humiliatingly offer a second batch of season tickets more than seven weeks after the initial deadline. Around 4,000 tickets were put on general sale by [...]
BSkyB results are expected to smash through analyst forecasts July 25, 2010 BSKYB is expected to smash the market consensus when it announces its results this week. A surge in demand for high definition (HD) services in the wake of the World Cup will drive the broadcasters profits higher than forecasts. Sky is understood to have netted an extra 320,000 new HD customers in the last three [...]
HSBC in talks with Pinnacle consortium July 25, 2010 THE GROUP hoping to build the Pinnacle skyscraper on Bishopsgate is close to securing financing from HSBC, it emerged at the weekend. Arab Investments (AI) plans to raise £600m from the financing deal, to add to £130m secured from a 60-strong consortium of backers. AI boss Khalid Affara has been courting banks for months in [...]
Alan Sugar puts his £120m Mayfair properties up for sale July 25, 2010 LORD Alan Sugar’s real estate firm is to sell off three properties in Mayfair, with a pre-crisis price-tag of £120m. Amsprop, managed by Lord Sugar’s son Daniel, has decided to finally cash in on climbing property values in the West End after several offers in recent months. Daniel Sugar said: “We have received unsolicited approaches [...]
Space shortage will push rents in the City until at least 2013 July 25, 2010 THE UPWARD squeeze on City rents is set to continue until at least 2014, according to recent figures. Office vacancy rates stood at 8.9 per cent in the three months to June, but demand should outstrip supply from 2011 and space will remain scarce until several skyscrapers are completed towards the end of 2013. In [...]
