Standard Life profits boosted by cost cuts August 10, 2011 British insurer Standard Life reported a bigger-than-expected 44 per cent jump in its half-year profit, with cost cuts and stronger sales outweighing a big increase in investment in new products and technology. Edinburgh-based Standard Life, Britain’s fifth-biggest insurer, had a pretax operating profit of £262m, up from £182m a year earlier, the company said. Analysts [...]
HSBC sells US card business to Capital One August 10, 2011 HSBC has agreed to sell its US credit card and retail services unit to Capital One Financial Corp for a premium of about $2.6bn, as Europe’s top bank streamlines its mammoth operations by shedding non-core businesses. The sale of the arm, which had gross assets of $30.4bn at the end of June, is part of [...]
TUI on track for full year August 10, 2011 TUI Travel , Europe’s biggest tour operator, said it was on track to meet expectations for the full year, boosted by a strong performance in its British and Nordic businesses. The company, which is majority owned by German group TUI, reported a 57 per cent rise in operating profit to £88m in the third quarter [...]
Commerzbank profits wiped out by Greek debt August 10, 2011 Commerzbank has seen its second quarter profits destroyed by a 760m euros (£676m) write-down of its Greek debt. Net profit fell by 93 per cent at Germany’s second largest bank from the same period a year ago to 24m euros. Earlier this month the UK’s RBS also wrote down around $1bn of Greek loans, as [...]
Britain’s in crisis: the real causes of chaos on streets August 10, 2011 FEAR. Debilitating, widespread fear. The country held to ransom by feckless youths. Thousands of shocked Londoners cowering in their homes, with many shops, banks and offices shutting early. I cannot remember anything like it; the atrocities of the 7/7 terror attacks, the shock from 9/11 and the IRA’s repeated terrorist attacks had a chilling, devastating [...]
Fed at war over fresh stimulus August 9, 2011 THE FEDERAL Reserve last night pledged to keep US interest rates at their “exceptionally low levels” until at least mid-2013, in a bid to stimulate the ailing US recovery. Yet three dissenters broke ranks from chairman Ben Bernanke (pictured) and his senior colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee. Richard Fisher, Narayana Kocherlakota, and Charles [...]
Riots spread north as London clamps down August 9, 2011 DISORDER and rioting spread to several cities across the country last night while Scotland Yard put London into lockdown, trebling the number of police on the streets and promising tough law enforcement, including the possible use of plastic bullets, to tackle violence. Although London appeared to be more peaceful than the three previous nights, sporadic [...]
Politicians fly home to a Britain in crisis August 9, 2011 POLITICIANS were last night travelling back from their summer holidays, after the Prime Minister announced he would recall parliament in response to the London riots. David Cameron, who himself only returned to Britain in the early hours of yesterday morning, said he was recalling MPs so they could “stand together in condemnation of these crimes”. [...]
Britain’s in crisis: the real causes of chaos on streets August 9, 2011 FEAR. Debilitating, widespread fear. The country held to ransom by feckless youths. Thousands of shocked Londoners cowering in their homes, with many shops, banks and offices shutting early. I cannot remember anything like it; the atrocities of the 7/7 terror attacks, the shock from 9/11 and the IRA’s repeated terrorist attacks had a chilling, devastating [...]
WHAT CAN THE POLICE DO TO RESTORE ORDER? August 9, 2011 Q.CAN MORE PEOPLE COMMITTING CRIMINAL ACTS BE DETAINED? A.For every arrest made, the police have to follow certain procedures, including presenting the detainee at a police station and justifying the arrest – taking officers off the street for several hours. The government can suspend procedures to keep officers active, but will be reluctant to be [...]
