FSA will publish complaints July 9, 2009 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) is to name and shame financial services companies that provoke the most consumer complaints, bringing to an end its policy of being tight-lipped on its investigations. The proposals, which were partially outlined in chancellor Alistair Darling’s white paper on financial regulation would see companies forced to publish their own complaints [...]
Women’s earning power decimated by having kids July 9, 2009 HAVING children has a devastating impact on women’s earning power, a new report has revealed. The report, compiled by women’s rights campaign group the Fawcett Society and entitled “Not Having It All”, said that childless women working full time earned on average 9 per cent less than men, but that the gender pay gap rose [...]
Cameron’s head of communications to face Commons probe over phone-taps July 9, 2009 CONSERVATIVE party director of communications Andy Coulson is likely to face a grilling by the Commons culture committee, as it investigates alleged phone-bugging by The News of The World (NoW) during the time that he was the newspaper’s editor. The investigation follows allegations made by the Guardian newspaper that Rupert Murdochs’ tabloid title paid up [...]
Boris Johnson warns EC on new hedge fund rules July 9, 2009 BORIS Johnson accused the European Commission (EC) of trying to “strangle” the City with its draft directive on regulation of hedge funds. The London mayor said the EC’s proposals threatened to drive alternative investment managers out of the City, where 80 per cent of Europe’s $300bn (£184bn) in hedge fund assets are managed. Private equity [...]
Nationwide defends its 125pc loan July 9, 2009 BRITAIN’S largest mutual Nationwide yesterday defended its decision to launch a mortgage allowing customers to borrow up to 125 per cent of the value of their property. The product is aimed at homeowners in negative equity who want to move to a house worth more than their own. But critics warned yesterday that the mortgage [...]
CITY VIEWS: SHOULD NATIONWIDE BE OFFERING THE 125 PER CENT MORTGAGE? July 9, 2009 MATT WING MATT WING ASSOCIATES“If you already have equity in a house then it might be okay. I can see that it would appeal to people in that position, but there will be those who take it and cannot afford it. I think other banks could start to offer the same thing.”STEPHEN THOMPSON TALBOT UNDERWRITING“I [...]
Housebuilders hail stability but warn mortgage drought will hurt July 9, 2009 Barratt shows signs of stability as volumes pick up but mortgage drought continues Barratt Developments yesterday reported a 19 per cent fall in private house prices over the last 12 months and warned that a sustained improvement in training conditions would remain elusive until the availability of mortgage finance recovers. However, the group has witnessed [...]
Begbies Traynor shares rise as profits grow on the back of bankruptcy boom July 9, 2009 INSOLVENCY specialist Begbies Traynor said yesterday that its full year pre-tax profit had risen 28 per cent as it benefited from the boom in businesses going bust, sending its shares higher. The accountancy firm reported a profit of £7.2m for the year to 30 April, and said that activity levels since are “significantly ahead” of [...]
AOL reviewing assets July 9, 2009 AOL, which is being spun off from Time Warner, is reviewing assets it could sell or divest, but will likely keep its social networking site Bebo, chief executive Tim Armstrong said yesterday. Armstrong told Reuters that Bebo still has “great value” and that it will be moved to a Ventures unit of the online company [...]
ICAO rejects calls for blacklist July 9, 2009 European Union proposal for a global blacklist for unsafe airlines was rejected by the head of aviation body ICAO yesterday. Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez, president of the International Civil Aviation Organisation said: “I don’t think this is the solution at the global level. Discouraging passengers from going on particular aircraft or particular airlines on certain routes [...]
