Would-be German Chancellor threatens US trade agreement August 26, 2013 GERMANY’S most prominent opposition politician lashed out at the US over the weekend, threatening to stall negotiations for a major trade agreement over allegations of spying. Peer Steinbruck, who is Angela Merkel’s main opponent in September’s election, suggested that he would stall EU negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the US until [...]
Train firms told to tell customers which services are most crowded August 26, 2013 COMMUTERS should be told which train services are the most overcrowded, rail minister Norman Baker has said to operating companies. Baker has written to all train operators calling on them to give each train a red, amber or green rating to allow passengers to avoid the most cramped services where possible. “Publication of train-by-train crowding [...]
Fresh strike action hits South Africa August 26, 2013 SOUTH African construction and airport workers went on strike for higher wages yesterday, extending a series of industrial action threatening to slow growth in Africa’s largest economy. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said about 90,000 of its members in the construction sector planned to down tools. More than 50 per cent of employers were [...]
Redundancy bill down for first time since crisis August 26, 2013 THE COST of redundancy pay-outs has dropped for the first time since the start of the credit crunch, new research out today shows. British companies spent £4.1bn on staff redundancies in the year to 31 March, down 11 per cent on the previous year, according to commercial law firm EMW. The number of redundancy payments [...]
Sweden plans tougher rules for banks in bid to avoid fresh crash August 26, 2013 SWEDEN should introduce tough new capital requirements for its banks, already subject to some of the world’s most stringent regulations, to shield taxpayers from any future bailouts, the government said yesterday. Although none of Sweden’s banks went bust in the financial crisis, the sector is viewed as a potential pressure point because it dwarfs the [...]
Watchdog claims derivatives reform will boost the recovery August 26, 2013 CENTRALLY clearing derivatives will cut the chance of financial crises and boost the economy, a taskforce set up by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) said yesterday. Plans to increase banks’ capital requirements against uncollateralised derivative exposures will increase the cost of derivatives for customers, knocking 0.04 per cent from growth, the macroeconomic assessment group [...]
Zurich insurance’s finance chief found dead August 26, 2013 ZURICH Insurance Group said yesterday that its chief financial officer (CFO), Pierre Wauthier, had been found dead at his home. The Swiss insurer said that police were investigating the circumstances of Wauthier’s death, and that no further details had been disclosed. Group controller Vibhu Sharma will replace him as CFO on an interim basis.
ING sells Asian insurance unit in £1.06bn deal August 26, 2013 ING Groep edged closer to completing its year-and-a-half-old Asia divestment plan after private equity firm MBK Partners agreed to buy its South Korean insurance unit for total cash proceeds of 1.84 trillion won (£1.06bn). Under the agreement announced yesterday, the bailed-out Dutch insurer will retain about a 10 per cent stake in the South Korean [...]
Overseas posts in demand but grads shun emerging markets August 26, 2013 MOVING abroad for work is becoming more common, a survey out today shows – but globe-trotting graduates are reluctant to move to emerging markets. A poll of 900 global firms found that the average firm had around 250 employees on international assignments in 2009, up from 200 in 1998. PwC expects this to rise to around [...]
Finance chiefs see pay surge August 26, 2013 SALARIES of finance directors of UK-listed companies increased by an inflation-busting 4.7 per cent in the last year, according to research from Income Data Services (IDS). The IDS study shows that finance directors of FTSE 100 companies now earn an average of £1.7m per year, including salary, bonuses, share option profits and incentive payments. AIM-listed [...]
