Whistleblower should have been protected by Lehmans March 17, 2010 MATTHEW Lee, the man who blew the whistle on controversial accounting techniques at Lehman Brothers, should have been protected by the bank’s code of ethics after notifying management of the “Repo 105” transactions. Lee, who is in his 50s, was laid off from the collapsed bank after calling management’s attention to the transactions, which allowed [...]
BA pledges to run 65pc of flights in spite of strike March 17, 2010 BRITISH Airways said yesterday extra staff will allow it to run 65 per cent of flights during the intended strikes this coming weekend, rather than the 60 per cent it initially forecast. BA said that the number of staff offering to step in as cabin crew has increased. And in response to fears over background [...]
Arriva soars after foreign bid approach March 17, 2010 ARRIVA, the bus and train operator, has received a £1.4bn takeover bid from Deutsche Bahn, the German state-run transport group. Shares in the Sunderland-based company soared yesterday following the news of the 700p per share offer, rising by almost a fifth – their biggest jump for 15 years – eventually closing up 16.8 per cent at [...]
Time right for Anglo-German tie-up March 17, 2010 AS the cliché goes, German trains always arrive on time. For Deutsche Bahn (DB), this deal has pulled into the platform at exactly the right moment. Transport markets across Europe are set for a massive period of liberalisation over the next ten years, after the EU issued a series of directives that will force member [...]
Jobless total falls but so does employment March 17, 2010 THE number of Britons looking for work fell by 33,000 between November and January – but the number in work fell by 54,000 over the same period, official figures showed yesterday. The apparently contradictory findings have come about due to a rise in those classed as “economically inactive” because they are studying, on long-term sick [...]
MPC unanimous on policy at March meeting despite some worries on inflation March 17, 2010 The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep monetary policy unchanged this month, but some members noted an increase in upside inflation risks due to the fall in the pound. Minutes of the MPC’s 3-4 March meeting, published yesterday, showed all nine members agreed to keep interest rates at a record low [...]
ANALYST VIEWS: WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE LATEST FIGURES AND DO THEY SHOW THE REAL PICTURE? March 17, 2010 HETAL MEHTA | ERNST & YOUNG ITEM CLUB Today’s data gives yet more weight to the idea that the labour market is performing better than the economy as a whole. Not only has unemployment fallen significantly, while it is unusual to see unemployment fall at this stage of the cycle, the detailed figures do not [...]
Pru backs top man over new SocGen role March 17, 2010 PRUDENTIAL has defended chief executive Tidjane Thiam’s decision to take a second board role at another company in the middle of the firm’s gargantuan takeover of American International Assurance. Thiam is due to be nominated as a non-executive director of French bank Société Générale in May, and will start a four-year term in the summer. [...]
Our City panel is worried about the public purse March 17, 2010 HUGE FEARS over the state of the public finances underpin our panel’s view that the government should cut spending soon after the general election. The majority of panelists (59 per cent) said they were very worried about the public finances, while 32 per cent said they were fairly worried. Just eight per cent of respondents [...]
GREECE FLIRTS WITH IMF AID March 17, 2010 GREEK Prime Minister George Papandreou warned yesterday he could turn to the International Monetary Fund for support if EU leaders failed to come up with an acceptable rescue package at their next summit on 25 March. Finland, the Netherlands and Italy are all in favour of turning to the IMF for financial aid if Athens [...]
