Judgement day for mega-merger of Glencore and Xstrata September 6, 2012 GLENCORE’S proposed $34bn (£21.3bn) merger with Xstrata appeared to be heading for failure last night as investors lined up this morning to vote on the deal. Barring a last minute hike in the offer price from Glencore, leading Xtstrata shareholder Qatar Holding is expected to scupper the deal. Glencore, which owns 33.7 per cent of [...]
Affordable housing rules dropped to boost builders September 6, 2012 HOUSEBUILDERS and business organisations yesterday welcomed the government’s decision to temporarily relax planning laws as Downing Street announced it would scrap the requirement for private developers to build affordable housing in an attempt to kick-start a construction boom. Under existing rules builders are required to designate a set percentage of every development either for housing associations [...]
Draghi’s plan will merely buy a bit of time for the Eurozone September 6, 2012 THERE is nothing markets love more than a good dose of monetary activism, especially when they detect a hidden bailout, so it is no wonder that traders and investors reacted so positively to Mario Draghi’s bond buying plan. But the extent of the enthusiasm on the other side of the Atlantic was almost touching in [...]
JP Morgan gets a new boss as probe deepens September 6, 2012 JP Morgan Chase yesterday named senior mortgage executive Craig Delany as head of its chief investment office more than three months after the discovery of a wayward derivatives trade in the division that caused at least $5.8bn (£3.6bn) in losses. The 41-year-old banker most recently served as chief operating officer of mortgage banking, a job [...]
What the other papers say this morning September 6, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES Investment banks eye Europe job cuts Big investment banks in Europe, including Nomura, Credit Suisse and UBS, are stepping up plans to cut jobs as they seek to adapt to a drastic slowdown in revenues and tighter regulation. Bank executives, headhunters and analysts say that the cuts are shaping up as the deepest [...]
OECD slashes UK’s economic growth outlook September 6, 2012 THE WORSENING euro crisis has put the brakes on worldwide growth, said the OECD in a global economic analysis out yesterday, as it cut forecasts across the board. UK policymakers will be unhappy with the massive hit to projected UK GDP – the economy is now predicted to shrink 0.7 per cent – well under [...]
Amazon announces new Kindle and 2,000 permanent UK jobs September 6, 2012 AMAZON yesterday unveiled larger Kindle Fire tablets with lower prices as it also revealed plans to create more than 2,000 permanent jobs over the next two years in the UK. The new Kindle, revealed to crowds in Santa Monica, California, is set to challenge Apple’s dominant iPad with lower prices and a trove of digital [...]
Osborne warns Scotland could lose the pound September 6, 2012 GEORGE Osborne last night warned that an English government might not support an independent Scotland in keeping the pound. In a provocative speech to business leaders in Glasgow last night, a defiant chancellor said the lesson of the Eurozone crisis was that it was not possible to have currency union without full political union. “In [...]
Pressure on Barclays to reform September 6, 2012 INCOMING Barclays chairman Sir David Walker faces pressure from a committee of MPs and Lords to explain how he will clean up his bank’s damaged brand at a hearing next week, it was announced yesterday. He will be the first person to face the new Parliamentary Commission on Banking Standards (PCBS), set up to investigate [...]
Lloyds boss says banks need changes to repair reputations September 6, 2012 BRITISH banks can only repair their reputations with radical, long-term changes in the way they operate, Lloyds’ boss Antonio Horta-Osorio told a business audience last night, attacking the “complacent” attitude which took hold before the financial crisis. “Scandal-by-scandal the faith and trust in our industry has been eroded. Why? Because I believe that many banks [...]
