City grandees launch push for EU referendum January 16, 2013 LEADING City figures will today launch their campaign for a referendum on Britain’s continued membership of the EU, arguing action is needed to ensure London’s financial sector is not undermined by Brussels. As City A.M. revealed on Monday, leading businessmen who want Britain to repatriate powers from Europe have set up their own campaign after becoming [...]
Mayfair property tycoon found guilty of massive loans fraud January 16, 2013 TWO men who posed as wealthy Mayfair property buyers to secure almost £800m in loans have been found guilty of conspiracy to defraud, in a long-awaited successful prosecution for the Serious Fraud Office (SFO). Achilleas Michaelis Kallakis and his associate Alexander Martin Williams used fake guarantees claiming to be from Hong Kong property firm SHKP [...]
Horse burger fears spread January 16, 2013 SAINSBURY’S, the Co-op and ASDA yesterday cleared their shelves of burgers supplied by companies at the centre of a horse meat scandal. There is no evidence the three supermarkets sold contaminated products but they have taken the precautionary measure following Tuesday’s revelation that the meat content in a sample of Tesco’s Everyday Beef Burgers was 29 per cent [...]
HMRC beefs up wealth team January 16, 2013 HM REVENUE & CUSTOMS yesterday announced it will hire 100 additional inspectors to investigate the tax affairs of high earners. They will work alongside the 200 existing members of the Affluent Compliance Team to ensure people with an annual income of more than £150,000 – or wealth of more than £2.5m – pay their tax in full. HMRC claim the [...]
Jupiter reaches for the stars with record rise January 16, 2013 MONEY manager Jupiter Fund Management beat analysts’ expectations yesterday to deliver its best quarterly inflows for two years, sending its assets under management to a record high, figures showed yesterday. The FTSE 250 listed manager breached the £26.3bn asset barrier after attracting £688m more cash from punters in the last three months of 2012. This [...]
Wall Street’s big banks roar again while cutting costs January 16, 2013 EVEN the most committed banker-basher should find something to like in the latest results from Wall Street. Huge rises in profits at JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs from a year ago came alongside reductions in staff and salaries and a boost in lending to small businesses and homebuyers. JP Morgan announced it was cutting chief [...]
IMF waves through €3.2bn in aid for debt-stricken Greece January 16, 2013 THE INTERNATIONAL Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to unfreeze the next tranche of bailout aid to the Greek government, the global lender announced last night. The €3.24bn (£2.69bn) instalment of cash had been frozen as the IMF mulled over two reviews of Greece’s economic performance, including judgements over the government’s reforms and promises of further [...]
Aviation one of five sectors set to suffer in 2013 January 16, 2013 FIVE struggling sectors of the economy could face more woe in 2013, says a report released yesterday. Aviation, care homes, farming, local authorities and NHS trusts are the five most likely sectors to come in for financial distress over the coming year, according to forecasts from Begbies Traynor, due to funding and demand squeezes. Airlines face a [...]
Vickers claims tough ring fence will boost City competitiveness January 16, 2013 RING-FENCING retail banking operations to separate them from investment banking are the best way to reform the sector and will in fact increase London’s competitiveness in the long run, the author of the plans insisted yesterday. Sir John Vickers even argued that MPs’ and peers’ proposals to electrify the ring fence with the threat of [...]
FSA clamps down harder on misselling January 16, 2013 FINANCE firms must change their sales practices immediately to make sure they no longer incentivise staff to mis-sell retail products, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) said yesterday. Any who have not already must undertake an extensive review of incentive schemes, review their controls and change bad practices. If they discover more consumers who have been [...]
