Adoboli hires Nick Leeson’s legal advisers September 18, 2011 TRADER Kweku Adoboli spent the weekend in custody after being charged over the $2.3bn (£1.46bn) fraud at UBS. The 31-year-old former public schoolboy, who wept when he appeared at City of London Magistrates’ Court on Friday, has appointed Kingsley Napley, the law firm that previously represented former Barings banker Nick Leeson, to conduct his defence [...]
Multi-trillion yen boost to rebuild Japan September 18, 2011 TRILLIONS of yen will be raised in tax over the next decade to pay for post-earthquake reconstruction work, the Japanese government’s tax commission has announced. The proposed supplementary budget will bring in ¥11.2 trillion (£92.4bn). Either higher income and corporate taxes, or a combination including higher tobacco taxes, are expected to be used. The tax [...]
Housing shortage sends London’s prices rocketing September 18, 2011 ASKING prices have barely moved in the country as a whole, but a lack of new sellers in London pushed prices up this month, according to today’s Rightmove house price index. Prices are up 2.4 per cent month-on-month in the capital, and 7.2 per cent compared with last September. That translates to a cash increase [...]
Trade unions in call for fairer inflation stats September 18, 2011 THE UK’s statistics office is exploring new measurements of the effect of rising prices on struggling Britons, as the government comes under pressure to alter the way it calculates millions of pensions and benefit payments. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) says it is investigating the cost of living for new demographics, yet insists its [...]
Markit says decline in family finances is easing September 18, 2011 HOUSEHOLDS’ finances are still getting worse – but the decline has slowed since August, according to research released today by Markit. The household finance index (HFI) rose to 35.1 in September, up from 33.2 in August. Any number below 50 shows a decline over that month. The figures are still grim, however, as 37 per [...]
Targeted charity could save cash September 18, 2011 Huge social issues blighting Britain can best be solved by well-targeted philanthropy, claims study out today from Barclays Wealth and think-tank New Philanthropy Capital (NPC). The report identifies three categories of social problem costing the taxpayer £100bn per year: children with conduct problems and the crimes they commit in later life; adults out of work [...]
Vickers sidelined in Bank resolution regime plans September 18, 2011 THE BANK of England is working on plans to carve up failing banks into “good” and “bad” banks, but has so far shown little interest in the concept of a ringfence dividing wholesale and retail activities, as proposed by Sir John Vickers’ Independent Commission on Banking (ICB). The Bank’s quarterly report provides an update on [...]
ANALYSTS’ VIEWS: IS THE BANK OF ENGLAND LEANING TOWARDS MORE QE? September 18, 2011 PHILIP SHAW | INVESTEC “We envisage the MPC restarting QE and see little reason to wait until November’s forecasting round. Expect the go ahead next month.” SAMUEL TOMBS | CAPITAL ECONOMICS “This week’s public debt figures should show the fiscal consolidation process being hampered by weak growth. That underlines the need for QE.” PHILIP RUSH [...]
Bank: asset bubbles may have skewed GDP figures September 18, 2011 THE HOUSING boom and other changes in asset prices could have led statisticians to overestimate the contribution of financial services to GDP, according to the Bank of England’s quarterly bulletin, out today. As the sector grew twice as fast as the economy as a whole, its position as a driver of growth is not in [...]
New takeover rules set to test the City September 18, 2011 ALMOST two years after Kraft’s unsolicited bid for Cadbury, changes are being introduced today designed to strengthen the hand of companies that find themselves the subject of unwanted advances. But critics fear the changes will further damage the UK’s stalled M&A market, proving onerous for bidders and diverting investment away from the UK economy. Shortly [...]
