Rothschild calls for full release of Bumi report January 17, 2013 BUMI co-founder Nat Rothschild yesterday hit out at the board of the miner, and called for full disclosure of the Macfarlanes report. Beleaguered coal miner Bumi commissioned City law firm Macfarlanes to carry out the legal review into its Indonesian operations in September, following alleged financial irregularities at Bumi Resources. The billionaire financier yesterday wrote [...]
Ex-RBS directors defend PPI as a useful product for customers January 17, 2013 PAYMENT protection insurance (PPI) was a good product for certain bank customers and was sold with the best intentions by the majority of bank staff, former bosses at RBS claimed yesterday. Ex-UK retail boss Paul Geddes told the parliamentary commission on banking standards that the product passed “the sniff test” when he joined the bank [...]
Unfair dismissal compensation to be capped at 12 months’ pay January 17, 2013 THE GOVERNMENT will take forward plans to limit the maximum pay-out employees can win from unfair dismissal cases, it said yesterday. The move follows consultation on a range of reforms designed to limit the use of costly employment tribunals and give businesses the confidence to hire new staff. Proposals confirmed yesterday include capping the compensation paid following [...]
Call for bank competition January 17, 2013 THE INCOMING head of the new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) must do more to actively promote competition in banking, rather than take the route of increased regulation, MPs warned in a report out today. “Getting competition into the culture of the FCA will also be a huge challenge for its leadership,” said Treasury Select Committee [...]
Property fraudster jailed for seven years January 17, 2013 FAKE property tycoon Achilleas Kallakis (above) was yesterday sentenced to seven years in jail for defrauding Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Scotland out of over £700m, and co-defendant Alexander William was jailed for five years. The judge said the banks deserved some blame for poor risk controls, after approving loans based on fake guarantees.
Boris talks up London charm at City dinner January 17, 2013 WHAT would a Capitalist diary entry be, without a weekly update on loveable London Mayor Boris Johnson? And so, to the City’s Mansion House last night, where the Lord Mayor hosted the City Mayor for the London Government Dinner. Among the 300 guests gathered to hear BoJo’s musings on Europe were chair of London Councils [...]
Relax to the sounds of the City January 17, 2013 MOST City workers down a speedy sandwich during their lunch hour, while others make a dash for the gym – but how many actually relax when away from their desk? This is the question being posed by the City of London Festival, which is touting its annual free Winter Concerts programme to encourage us all [...]
Deloitte partners roll up their sleeves for charity cook-off January 17, 2013 SEVEN partners from Deloitte shared a kitchen with MasterChef’s Michel Roux Jr this week. And not just in an attempt to improve the staff canteen, but to raise money for the charity Wildhearts. Affectionately known as the Deloitte MasterChef Canapé Challenge, the office competition saw seven senior partners cook live under the strict judging eye [...]
December sees rents slip from all-time highs January 17, 2013 UK RENTS fell back from autumn’s record highs in December, data released this morning has shown. Rents dropped 0.9 per cent in December, according to LSL Property Services’s buy-to-let index, bringing the average monthly rent to £734 per month. This consolidated November’s 0.4 per cent decline, which pulled rents down from the all-time high of [...]
Shock collapse in Philly Fed poll contradicts upbeat jobless data January 17, 2013 FACTORY activity in the key mid-Atlantic region fell back into decline in January, US data revealed yesterday. But across the US as a whole, 37,000 fewer new unemployment insurance claims were made in the week ending 12 January, when adjusting for seasonal variations – giving a much more optimistic picture of the economy. However, the broader [...]
