Sarkozy issues plan for happiness September 14, 2009 French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called for the nation’s economic success to be calculated using new measures including “happiness”. Sarkozy yesterday announced a “revolutionary” plan to shift the focus away from economic growth towards issues like work-life balance, traffic congestion levels and household chores. He said there is too much focus on growth measures like [...]
Mandelson in hint at Labour spending cuts September 14, 2009 BUSINESS secretary Lord Mandelson yesterday promised that Labour would be “wise spenders, not big spenders”, as he sought to regain ground lost to the Conservatives ahead of next year’s general election. Reviving a slogan last used in Labour’s 1997 electoral campaign, Mandelson attacked the opposition, whom he said would hamper economic recovery by withdrawing stimulus [...]
Darling: Banks to be forced to write living wills September 14, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling has said banks will be forced to draft so-called “living wills” to make it easy to break them up without damaging the wider economy if they collapse in a future financial crisis. Darling said the Queen’s speech in November will outline the plans, which will force banks to simplify their structures and [...]
WTO warns of protectionism September 14, 2009 PROTECTIONIST policies could hold back global economic recovery and weaken key industries long after the current crisis ends, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said yesterday. In a joint report with the UN trade and development agency UNCTAD and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the WTO said most leading economies have invoked “trade [...]
Magna set to slash thousands of jobs at Opel and Vauxhall September 14, 2009 CARMAKER Opel could slash as many as 10,500 jobs under a massive restructuring by new owner Magna, bosses at the Canadian car parts maker said yesterday. Co-chief executive for Magna Siegfried Wolf said the cuts could take over a year to carry out. The news comes days after car giant General Motors (GM) agreed to [...]
Conservatives consider sale of bank stakes to private investors September 14, 2009 CONSERVATIVE shadow chancellor George Osborne would consider selling the government’s stakes in Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland to non-banking investors, if the Tories win the general election. Osborne is understood to be in favour of greater diversity on the share registers of the banks and is keen to show that a Conservative [...]
WIN RESHUFFLES BOARD September 14, 2009 SIR Win Bischoff takes over from Sir Victor Blank as chairman of Lloyds Banking Group today. The former Citigroup chairman is expected to launch a boardroom reshuffle that will axe non-executive directors left over from the HBOS takeover and see several departures from the executive board. One of Bischoff’s first tasks will be to oversee [...]
Heidelberg in 2.5bn issue to ease debts September 14, 2009 HEIDELBERGCEMENT has unveiled a large capital raising that is likely to raise around €2.5bn (£2.2bn), as the German cement firm scrambles to slash its €11.3bn debt mountain. The firm said it plans to boost its capital by 50 per cent by issuing 62.5m new shares in a rights issue of one new share for each [...]
Cadbury boss will fight Kraft takeover September 14, 2009 Dairy Milk maker Cadbury is set to ramp up its defence against Kraft’s £10.2bn takeover bid when chief executive Todd Stitzer addresses investors and analysts at Sanford Bernstein’s London offices tomorrow. Stitzer is also understood to be considering bringing forward the confectionary group’s third quarter results in a bid to reassure investors of the company’s [...]
Saudi wealth lures Barclays September 14, 2009 BARCLAYS is planning to push into the private banking arena in Saudi Arabia to take advantage of the concentration of high net worth individuals in the region’s largest economy. Soha Nashaat, chief executive of Barclays private banking in the Middle East and North Africa, said Saudi Arabia was “massive in terms of percentage of GDP [...]
