Prudential retreats from plan to shift headquarters to Asia October 14, 2012 INSURANCE giant Prudential has abandoned plans to relocate its headquarters from London, it was suggested yesterday. Speculation has raged over the Pru’s intention ever since it was revealed that the firm was looking at redomiciling its corporate HQ to Asia to reduce the impact of the European Union’s forthcoming Solvency II regulations. Following this announcement [...]
UBS loses its comms chief Michael Willi October 14, 2012 UBS’S communications chief Michael Willi will leave the Swiss bank by April, according to a memorandum seen by Reuters, as management struggles to unite behind a plan to cut jobs. Willi is resigning to take up an undisclosed new position elsewhere, UBS chief executive Sergio Ermotti and operating chief Ulrich Koerner said in the memo [...]
Lagarde warns the momentum behind finance reform is fading October 14, 2012 CRUCIAL financial reforms may never be completed as political momentum fades, International Monetary Fund (IMF) boss Christine Lagarde warned yesterday. “There has been significant progress on regulatory reforms aimed at making markets and institutions more transparent, less complex, and less leveraged,” she told a conference in Japan. “But the job is not done yet. Many [...]
Second William Hill bid rejected by Sportingbet October 14, 2012 WILLIAM HILL’S proposed takeover of online bookie Sportingbet looks set to go down to the wire this week, after the Sportingbet board knocked back a second bid for the company last week. Sources close to negotiations said yesterday that William Hill, together with GVC Holdings, made an improved informal bid for Sportingbet late last week, [...]
Hannam back on front foot with Afghan mining venture October 14, 2012 TOP city dealmaker Ian Hannam is pushing ahead with a gold mining project in Afghanistan just months after leaving his post at JP Morgan Cazenove. Hannam, famed in the Square Mile for his deal making skills, will switch his focus to mining company Centar, the firm he established to mine the Qara Zaghan gold mine [...]
Medium-sized firms are the key to growth October 14, 2012 THE BUSINESS world is hiding a “squeezed middle” that should be encouraged to expand faster, according to research published today. Medium-sized businesses generate 16 per cent of jobs but represent just one per cent of UK companies, CBI figures cited by Deloitte show. And a lack of capital and trust caused by a nervous post-crisis [...]
Rentokil gears up for City Link sell off option October 14, 2012 RENTOKIL Initial, the business service group, is set to conduct a make or break review of its loss making delivery arm City Link at the end of the year with a view to selling off the business. The FTSE firm, which offers pest control, laundry and parcel delivery services, is gearing up to sell the [...]
It’s a skilled business making technology look magical October 14, 2012 ANY sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” was science fiction master Arthur C Clarke’s third law of prediction. Unfortunately, its consequences aren’t too often examined for business, as RBS seems to be now finding out. The problem with technology that looks like magic is that it looks easy – a few swipes, a few [...]
Tory ministers want new deal with Europe October 14, 2012 A LEADING backbench MP yesterday told City A.M. that a majority of Conservative cabinet ministers would like to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU. Douglas Carswell, MP for Clacton, made the comments following a report that education secretary Michael Gove wants Britain to threaten to leave the European Union if it does not claw back [...]
Black cab firm on brink as it seeks bail out October 14, 2012 LONDON black cab maker Manganese Bronze will seek an emergency cash bail out from its Chinese partners this week as it battles to stay alive. The Aim-listed firm was forced to suspend its shares on Friday after recalling 400 of its cabs due a fault with the steering box on its new black cab model. [...]
