Co-op bank won’t be healed for at least four years August 29, 2013 Niall Booker, chief executive of the Co-operative Bank has said that the bank will take at least four years to get into decent shape. That's if the bank is able to heal at all. Booker said that the process is going to take some time, pointing at state-backed Lloyds and RBS banks were returning them [...]
Syrian parliament invokes strange Shakespearean allegory in letter to UK MPs August 29, 2013 (Salanio and Salarino encounter Shylock) The Syrian parliament appears to have dropped a reference to Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" in a letter to UK MPs. In the second paragraph of a document obtained by Sky News, Mohammad Jihad al-Laham, speaker of the people's assembly of Syria, writes: We write to you as fathers and [...]
69,000 fall in immigration poses threat to UK’s fiscal position August 29, 2013 The latest quarterly migration statistics report shows a marked decrease in immigration, falling by 69,000 to 497,000 in the year ending December 2012 (release). Study became the most common reason for migrating to UK in 2009, overtaking work related reasons. Just 180,000 arrived for formal study last year, as foreign student numbers continue the decline [...]
ECB’s Nowotny says central banks shouldn’t intervene in currency markets August 29, 2013 The European Central Bank's (ECB) Ewald Nowotny has said that central banks shouldn't intervene in foreign exchange markets, apart from the Swiss. Apparently the Swiss interventions were justified and exceptional. Nowotny said that liquidity from the ECB can only be provided to already solvent banks. This is likely to allay fears that taxpayers will have [...]
Pre-election German unemployment sees surprise jump August 29, 2013 German unemployment has risen by 7,000 in August, despite economist estimates of a 5,000 drop. That sees the unemployment rate unchanged at 6.8 per cent. Last month German unemployment saw its second consecutive reduction as it fell by 7,000. This is the last Germans jobs number we'll see before the coming election. Christian Schulz, senior [...]
WPP profits rise but concerns linger about “grey swan” events August 29, 2013 Advertising agency WPP has seen pre tax profits rise by 19.4 per cent to £524m in the first half of 2013, but concerns for the future remain, and WPP's "operating companies remain cautious" (release). Yet again the firm's management refer to the chance of "grey swan" events. Here are the four they have in mind: [...]
Carney tears up King’s rulebook August 28, 2013 BANK lending is in line for a £90bn boost after Mark Carney yesterday agreed to let the safest institutions divert resources away from regulatory liquidity buffers and into business and household credit. It comes after business secretary Vince Cable called the Bank of England the “capital Taliban,” claiming regulators’ tough capital requirements were hitting [...]
Farmers’ mutual backs Kentz in takeover battle August 28, 2013 NFU MUTUAL, a top 10 shareholder in engineering and construction firm Kentz, yesterday backed the board’s rejection of two takeover bids, agreeing the offers undervalued the company. FTSE 250-listed Kentz, which this week unveiled an increase in first-half revenue and profit, rejected indicative offers from larger rival Amec and Germany’s M+W earlier in August. Amec’s [...]
Labour forces Cameron to delay Syria strikes August 28, 2013 DAVID Cameron last night bowed to Labour demands and delayed any British strikes on Syria until after UN inspectors can visit the site of an alleged chemical weapons attack. MPs had been recalled to Westminster for today’s debate on intervention in Syria, which was expected to conclude with a vote on whether the UK [...]
UK politicians prepare for showdown on Syria strikes August 28, 2013 TODAY’S House of Commons vote on Syria was expected to be a test of David Cameron’s leadership but the last minute decision to allow a second vote before committing Britain to military intervention has delayed the final decision. All sides are still expected to enforce the party whip for today’s vote, meaning parliamentarians who wish [...]
