Tories: no more cash bonuses October 25, 2009 GEORGE OSBORNE will today call on the Treasury and Financial Services Authority to stop high street banks paying out cash bonuses of more than £2,000. Retail banks such as state-owned Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland must be banned from paying out cash bonuses, he will say, to allow profits to be pumped [...]
PAY CUT FOR BOSSES OF JUST 1 PER CENT October 25, 2009 CHIEF executives of FTSE 100 companies saw their total pay cut by just 1.5 per cent over the past year to an average £3.3m despite cash bonuses falling by nearly a third, research released today shows. Income Data Services (IDS) found average bonuses for blue chip bosses remained above £500,000 even as corporate profits plunged [...]
NEW YORK REPORT October 22, 2009 US stocks rose yesterday after quarterly results from insurer Travelers and regional bank PNC Financial gave a boost to financial stocks. Financials were among the top gainers after insurer Travelers posted gains after it raised its full-year outlook and regional bank PNC Financial Services Group shares jumped 12.7 per cent to $50.65 on far better-than-expected [...]
THE LONDON REPORT October 22, 2009 The FTSE 100 closed one per cent, or 50.49 points, lower yesterday at 5,207.36, as weaker crude and metals weighed on energy stocks and miners. The index has rallied more than 50 per cent since hitting a low in early March, and is up 17 per cent this year. Energy stocks suffered with crude slipping [...]
Credit Suisse joins bumper profits haul October 22, 2009 Credit Suisse became the latest banking giant to rack up strong profits yesterday, although its shares fell on fears that rivals may gate-crash the party. The Swiss bank posted a net profit of Sfr2.4bn (£1.4bn) in the three months to September, its best quarter this year and comfortably above analysts’ expectations of Sfr1.6bn. Buoyant financial [...]
ECB speaks out over EU’s hedge fund directive October 22, 2009 THE EUROPEAN Central Bank (ECB) has warned EU bureaucrats that their plans to clamp down on the hedge fund industry could damage competitiveness with rival fund centres like the US. In a legal opinion on the European Commission’s proposed directive to regulate hedge funds and private equity houses, the ECB added its voice to a [...]
BoE’s Tucker contradicts King on carving up banks October 22, 2009 The deputy governor of the Bank of England Paul Tucker contradicted his boss yesterday when he poured cold water on governor Mervyn King’s idea of splitting up big banks in a bid to ensure financial stability. Tucker said: “I do not much like the notion of a list of ‘systemically important firms’ because, as a [...]
EU to allow Rock plan to split itself up October 22, 2009 The European Commission (EC) is expected to approve plans to split Northern Rock into a “good” and “bad” bank by the middle of next week, paving the way for the break-up and sale of the nationalised bank. The EC is set to authorise the plans next Wednesday. They were originally submitted by Northern Rock, led [...]
QUESTION TIME FOR THE BNP October 22, 2009 BNP leader Nick Griffin insisted he was “not a Nazi” during his first appearance on the BBC’s Question Time last night, as police tried to contain hundreds of anti-fascist protesters outside Television Centre. He told the studio audience – who constantly jeered him – that the UK was the subject of a “multicultural experiment”
Ex-Vivendi boss to stand trial October 22, 2009 Former Vivendi boss Jean-Marie Messier, who notoriously declared himself “master of the world” at his peak, has been ordered to stand trial on charges of share manipulation. Messier has will stand trial in court in France over allegations he divulged misleading information and manipulated stock prices. The decision was made earlier this month by Judge [...]
