Aegon to slash UK overheads and sell US reinsurance arm June 22, 2010 SHARES in Aegon fell yesterday as investors took profits on news the Dutch company would shave a quarter from overheads in its UK arm and sell its US life reinsurance business. The insurance group told shareholders in London it wanted to save £80m annually from its British operations by cutting costs by 25 per cent [...]
Japanese PM strikes tough tone on debt June 22, 2010 JAPAN’S government pledged to consider doubling the country’s five per cent sales tax within three years yesterday in a bid to soothe concerns over its billowing national debt. Trying to address the fears of credit rating agencies, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said reform of Japan’s parlous fiscal affairs would be his top priority. In a [...]
EC investigates state bailout of WestLB June 22, 2010 EUROPEAN Union regulators extended their temporary approval of the state bailout of German lender WestLB yesterday while they investigate whether the rescue complies with EU rules. The European Commission, which had approved conditional state aid for WestLB, said data provided by the bank was more complex than expected and it needed extra time to assess [...]
NEWS | IN BRIEF June 22, 2010 Petrobras expects tighter rules Petrobras, the world leader in deepwater oil exploration, said yesterday that Brazilian regulators could tighten offshore drilling standards in its home country following BP’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. BP’s Gulf of Mexico spill, which specialists call the worst such oil industry disaster in US history, would probably force [...]
JPMorgan set to find Dimon heir internally June 22, 2010 JPMorgan Chase yesterday reshuffled three top executives, including its chief financial officer, as part of an effort to ensure a deep bench of executives who could eventually succeed chief executive Jamie Dimon. The second-largest US bank by assets said it had replaced chief financial officer Michael Cavanagh with Doug Braunstein, the company’s head of investment [...]
Hedgie fined £50k by FSA June 22, 2010 A FORMER hedge fund manager was fined £50,000 for insider trading but escaped jail yesterday after agreeing to help the City’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) with its investigation into an unnamed associate. Anjam Ahmad, who worked for London-based AKO Capital until last September, was sentenced to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years and [...]
TUBE LINES STRIKE TO GO AHEAD June 22, 2010 MAINTENANCE workers on the underground will strike this evening after talks between rail union RMT and Tube Lines fell apart. The strike, which will be staged in two parts, is set to commence at 7pm and will last until Friday evening, with another strike planned between 14 and 16 July. Transport for London (TfL), which [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 22, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES GUINEA THREAT OVER RIO DISPUTE The government of Guinea has raised the stakes in a dispute with Rio Tinto by threatening to strip the mining group of more of its rights to one of the world’s biggest undeveloped iron ore deposits. Officials in Guinea have been angered by what they see as Rio’s [...]
BA’s pension recovery gets the go-ahead June 22, 2010 BRITISH AIRWAYS (BA) has agreed a plan with its trustees that will see the airline deal with its £3.7bn pension deficit head on. Under the new agreement, BA will commit to annual contributions of £330m with a three per cent rise every year, at the same time promising that it will make additional contributions should [...]
Unite to issue third ballot for August strikes June 22, 2010 UNITE, the union representing British Airways (BA) cabin crew, is to launch a fresh strike ballot on 29 June. The ballot, which will take more than five weeks to be finalised, means that crew could again walk off the job in August. Unite said yesterday that it had notified BA of the ballot launch – [...]
