Clegg won’t prop up Gordon Brown April 25, 2010 GORDON BROWN’S chances of clinging to power received another blow yesterday, when he was warned the Liberal Democrats would refuse to prop him up if he finishes third in the popular vote. Some opinion polls suggest that Brown could come third in terms of votes but still win the most Commons seats, thanks to a [...]
US close to Wall Street reform bill April 25, 2010 WASHINGTON could pass a bill to crack down on Wall Street within days as the US securities watchdog’s case against Goldman Sachs adds impetus to the case for financial reform. Senators said Democrat and Republican agreement on a sweeping overhaul of the financial system was “very, very close”. After months of arguing vehemently against new [...]
UBS-US deal in bonus row April 25, 2010 THE Swiss economy minister has urged the country’s parliament not to conflate the need for UBS to pass private clients’ details to the US with the emotive question of bankers’ bonuses. Switzerland’s government meets on Wednesday to discuss the UBS deal, which would see 4,450 secret bank accounts handed over to American tax investigators. At [...]
Memo to analysts: you’re too bullish April 25, 2010 TO all the analysts out there, it is time to take a cold shower – that, at least, is the logical conclusion to be drawn from the latest issue of the Quarterly journal published by McKinsey & Co, the Jermyn Street-based consultancy. Ten years ago, the firm discovered that analysts were on average much too [...]
Diamond to testify in US April 25, 2010 A RAFT of high-profile figures from Barclays and Lehman Brothers will appear before a US court over the coming fortnight in a case to determine whether the British bank underpaid for the American firm. Bob Diamond, president of Barclays, will join former Lehman president and chief operating officer Bart McDade to run over Barclays’ dramatic [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING April 25, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES TOSCAFUND HAS EYE ON £500M OF MORTGAGES Toscafund, the London-based hedge fund founded by ex-Credit Lyonnais star analyst Martin Hughes, is raising capital to acquire up to £500m of UK residential mortgages. The group has already closed a £250m fund of UK sub-prime mortgages, launched late last year, sources told the Financial Times. [...]
Insurers protest at IMF levy April 25, 2010 Some of the UK’s largest insurers have lashed out at plans to enforce new taxes on the financial sector, branding them “absurd” and “unfair”. Legal & General, Aviva and Lloyds of London said International Monetary Fund plans for two separate taxes on financial companies – one to cover the cost of any future bailouts, and the [...]
Firms help investors beat tax April 25, 2010 British companies including Hargreaves Lansdown and Schroders brought forward £840m in dividend payments this year to help shareholders beat the new 50 per cent top taxation band, according to figures compiled by Capita Registrars. Capita said in total 40 firms shifted their payment dates to before 6 April in order to lighten the tax burden [...]
RBS will cave in to investor pay demands April 25, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland (RBS) will toughen up its criteria for remunerating its top executives this week after a backlash from shareholders. The state-run bank has come in for fierce criticism for setting the bar too low for lucrative performance-related incentive packages to come into play. Now the bank will capitulate by putting the structure [...]
Newcomers welcome in the energy market, says Labour April 25, 2010 THE LABOUR PARTY has promised to end the domination of the UK’s “big six” energy suppliers if it wins re-election next month. At the launch of its “green manifesto” yesterday, Labour fleshed out its plans to promote competition in the energy sector and encourage progress to a low-carbon economy. It said it would open up [...]
