TheCityUK picks its man to rejuvenate financial services June 16, 2010 PROMOTIONAL body TheCityUK has moved into gear in its quest to transform the perception of the UK financial services industry at home and abroad, appointing Association of Independent Financial Advisers (AIFA) director general Chris Cummings as its first permanent chief executive. Cummings, 42, will take up the post in August. He joins a raft of [...]
Feds charge former US mortgage boss with multi-billion fraud case June 16, 2010 THE former head of the now bankrupt mortgage lender Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp (TBW) has been charged in a fraud scheme that led to multi-billion-dollar losses and targeted the 2008 federal bank bailout programme, US prosecutors said yesterday. Lee Farkas, 57, served as chairman of TBW, one of the largest privately held US [...]
High class: where to go for the best views in town June 16, 2010 WITH roof-top bars and outside space in London hard to come by (or just plain wet), top floor views and cityscapes have become the next best thing and a desirable year-round alternative. This week, as one high and mighty new members’ club opens its shiny elevator doors for the first time, another is scrapping its [...]
Hong Kong flat sale fails June 16, 2010 THE world’s most expensive apartment is to remain empty for now, as developer Henderson Land revealed its £38.3m sale had fallen through. The duplex in the 39 Conduit Road luxury development in Hong Kong’s Mid-Levels district was snapped up last October for the record sum. Its sale, and 19 other deals for plush apartments in [...]
Bonuses are back for top boardrooms June 16, 2010 THE average FTSE 100 boardroom bonus topped half a million pounds in the first half of this year, with an average pay rise for top directors of 23 per cent, research out today reveals. Bonus payments rose to an average of £558,918, a dramatic bounce from last year when payouts fell 30 per cent, according [...]
Top lawyers show signs of recovery June 16, 2010 THE UK’s top 100 law firms enjoyed a minor resurgence at the start of 2010, as fee income and chargeable hours increased in the three months to April, according to figures out today. While the revival has not generated the fees seen before the banking crisis, fee income grew by an average of 4.6 per [...]
Creditors rights limited in US Ponzi case June 16, 2010 IN a case involving a $255m (£173m) Ponzi scheme targeting Orthodox Jews, a federal appeals court said district judges have the power to block creditors from beginning involuntary bankruptcies against entities put under US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) receivership. Tuesday’s ruling by the US Second Circuit Court of Appeals is a setback for creditors [...]
US factory output jumps June 16, 2010 MANUFACTURING production in the US rose 0.9 per cent in May, fuelled by a 5.5 per cent rebound in motor vehicle output. The wider industrial output measure rose 1.2 per cent last month thanks to a 4.8 per cent weather-related jump in utilities output. The continued recovery in the US manufacturing sector shows little sign of [...]
Picoult strikes gold again June 16, 2010 HOUSE RULES BY JODI PICOULT Hodder, £16.99 For an easy-reading, best-selling author, Picoult tackles some pretty serious issues. Fans will recognise her favoured theme of troubled or ill children, written through the perspectives of those nearest to them, in House Rules. But with this, her 16th novel, Picoult seems to be stepping her writing up [...]
Sky set to see shareholders June 16, 2010 NICHOLAS Ferguson, the senior independent director of BSkyB, which is facing an outright bid from its largest shareholder News Corporation, has intimated he wants to see some of the larger shareholders in the group to listen to their views about the bid price. Ferguson was travelling yesterday on unrelated business but he will no doubt [...]
