Japan’s ruling party rebuked July 11, 2010 Japan’s ruling party, mauled in yesterday’s upper house election, faces an uphill struggle to win new allies to back its policies to cut back huge public debt and probably bitter infighting over whether the premier should quit. Voters dealt Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s Democratic Party of Japan a stinging rebuke in the election, depriving the [...]
Osborne faces pressure over fiscal monitor July 11, 2010 CHANCELLOR George Osborne will come under pressure to increase the independence of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) when its head, Sir Alan Budd, is grilled by an influential body of MPs this week. The Treasury Select Committee is expected to ask Budd, who is due to step down as chairman on 19 August, whether [...]
Clegg drove final nail in Brown coffin July 11, 2010 NICK Clegg, the LibDem leader, finally saw off Gordon Brown’s hopes of clinging to power in the wake of the hung parliament by demanding he resign before any Lib-Lab deal was agreed. This and other revelations in Lord Mandelson’s upcoming memoirs have caused a rupture in the Labour party, with leadership hopeful Andy Burnham accusing [...]
IFS director Robert Chote in the running for OBR chairman role July 11, 2010 DIRECTOR of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) Robert Chote is a strong candidate to replace Sir Alan Budd as chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR). The former journalist began his career as a reporter and columnist at The Independent before moving to the Financial Times to take up the position of economics [...]
Oil flows into Gulf freely as BP shifts cap July 11, 2010 UPDATES to BP’S containment plan caused oil to spill freely into the Gulf of Mexico over the weekend as the company was dealt another financial blow by well partner Anadarko. BP, which started to replace the containment cap on the blown out preventer yesterday, said that updates could take up to six days to complete, [...]
Crucial court date for BT over pension deficit July 11, 2010 TELECOMS giant BT will this morning begin a court case that could have a momentous impact on its future. Trustees of the firm’s pension plan are seeking a ruling on how far the government will underwrite the bloated scheme. If the ruling goes in the trustees’ favour BT will have to pay significantly less to [...]
Deutsche’s Jain tops EU power list July 11, 2010 DEUTSCHE Bank’s investment banking chief Anshu Jain has topped a power list of the 100 most influential people in European financial markets. Jain was named by Financial News as the most powerful financial individual in Europe, beating his own boss – Deutsche’s chief executive Josef Ackermann – into sixth place. This year’s list contains a [...]
BoA hid billions of dollars of debt through bad accounting July 11, 2010 BANK of America (BoA) has admitted it incorrectly classified figures of up to $10.7bn (£7.1bn) in short-term lending and repurchase deals for mortgage securities as sales. The lender said it had beefed up internal accounting controls after the transactions. It flagged up the fault to the Securities and Exchange Commission itself and no punitive action [...]
JC Flowers in mutual deal July 11, 2010 PRIVATE equity firm JC Flowers is in advanced talks with building society Kent Reliance to create a joint venture which could pave the way for a new “mini super-mutual”, transforming the fortunes of the ailing sector. If the deal goes ahead, Kent Reliance will transfer all of its assets and liabilities over to the newly-created [...]
Taylor Wimpey refinancing in a bid to beef up land purchases July 11, 2010 HOUSEBUILDER Taylor Wimpey has returned to the negotiating table with lenders, in a bid to access funding for land purchases. The company, which completed a £1.55bn debt restructuring last year, now wants to refinance its bonds and bank loans, according to the Financial Times. Although the firm’s repayments on debts are not due until July [...]
