$625m Russia payout for BP September 25, 2011 THE BOARD of Russia’s third-largest oil producer, TNK-BP, has approved an additional $1.25bn (£806m) dividend payout to shareholders, a spokesman said last night. A source familiar with the situation said the additional payout for the first half of 2011 was approved at a board meeting in Cyprus on Friday. “On top of $4.2bn already paid [...]
Crisis exposes the rot at euro’s heart September 25, 2011 EVER since it was created, the Eurozone’s mission has been to defy economic constraints in the name of politics. Whenever they were told by economists that the euro wasn’t an optimal currency zone, the Euro-establishment would simply shrug, rejecting technical economic arguments out of hand. Anything is possible with enough political will, they would say, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 25, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES US TAX AUTHORITIES TARGET BANK DEALS US tax authorities are targeting cross-border finance deals worth billions of dollars between leading US and UK banks as they step up efforts to clamp down on abusive tax avoidance, a joint investigation by the Financial Times and ProPublica has found. Four US banks – BB&T, Bank [...]
Investors to get £100m tax boost September 25, 2011 Chancellor George Osborne is today set to offer £100m of new income and capital gains tax breaks to those investing in fast growing technology and manufacturing firms. The government plans to expand the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) by increasing the rate of tax relief available from 20 per cent to 30 per cent and doubling [...]
Dozens arrested in Wall St protest September 25, 2011 At least 80 people were arrested in New York during anti-banking protests over the weekend, police said last night. The “Occupy Wall Street” campaigners have been protesting in and around the financial district for a second week, culminating in a march through Manhattan yesterday and on Saturday. Most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct [...]
Balls: we will use bank sale to plug debt September 25, 2011 ED Balls, the shadow chancellor, will today try to rebuild Labour’s shattered economic credibility by pledging to use any windfall from the sale of the taxpayer’s stake in the banks to repay the national debt. Balls – who has been labelled a “deficit denier” by his opponents in the coalition – is also expected to [...]
AIB asks Ireland to raise pay cap September 25, 2011 IRELAND’S finance minister Michael Noonan is considering a request from state-controlled Allied Irish Banks (AIB) to appoint a new chief executive with a salary above the current cap of €500,000 (£436,626), a government spokesman said yesterday. Michael McGrath, the finance spokesman for the opposition Fianna Fail’s party, said: “News that the government is even considering [...]
France denies plan to rescue ailing banks September 25, 2011 FRANCE yesterday “categorically denied” any suggestion it was planning to recapitalise its troubled banking sector. The Journal du Dimanche Sunday newspaper, citing government and banking sources, said the French state had considered injecting between €10bn (£8.73bn) and €15bn of public money into its banks at a secret meeting at France’s Treasury on 11 September. Asked [...]
Three trillion euros short of a picnic September 25, 2011 THE craze for “ring-fencing” troublesome entities has hit Europe. Thanks to Sir John Vickers, we now have some readymade jargon for measures that sound like solutions, but don’t mean much in practice. And we were treated to a flurry of such nonsense over the weekend with headlines hailing the arrival of a rescue package worth [...]
City: Labour leadership is unimpressive and being disingenuous on spending cuts September 25, 2011 ED Miliband and Ed Balls – the double act at the top of the Labour party – are less impressive than the duo they replaced, according to the City A.M / PoliticsHome Voice of the City panel. Almost three quarters of panellists (72 per cent) said Ed Balls, Labour’s shadow chancellor, was less impressive than [...]
