Major powers for Salz inquiry into Barclays July 24, 2012 TOP LAWYER Anthony Salz will have free rein to speak to staff and examine company documents in his inquiry aimed at cleaning up Barclays’ culture in the wake of the Libor scandal, the bank revealed yesterday. The former Freshfields senior partner has roughly nine months to investigate what went wrong at the bank and to [...]
PROFILE: ANTHONY SALZ July 24, 2012 ANTHONY Salz, appointed yesterday to lead the investigation into staff culture at Barclays, has a long record in City law, banking and public works, as well as experience of leading reviews into voluntary regulation at private firms. After 30 years as a corporate lawyer at Freshfields, including 10 years as senior partner, in 2006 Anthony [...]
Deutsche Bank reveals slump in profit due to euro weakness July 24, 2012 DEUTSCHE Bank rushed out a profit warning yesterday afternoon, and became the latest global investment bank to reveal weak second quarter pre-tax profit, as the flagging euro and lower trading activity hit earnings. Preliminary figures released yesterday ahead of Deutsche’s planned 31 July reporting date showed the bank expects quarterly pre-tax profit of about €1bn [...]
WOMEN TAKE MORE SEATS ON FTSE 100 BOARDS July 24, 2012 THE proportion of women on the boards of FTSE 100 firms has risen to 16.7 per cent from 12.5 per cent in 2011, according to new figures from the Department of Business. The news will add steam to business secretary Vince Cable’s insistence that quotas to force board diversity are unnecessary. Recent appointments include Lucinda [...]
Rosneft returns to BP with offer for Russian arm July 24, 2012 A YEAR and a half after it sparked a £10bn row, Rosneft has waded back into the dispute between BP and its Russian partners by offering to buy half of their joint venture, TNK-BP. BP said yesterday it had entered formal talks with state-owned Rosneft to sell its 50 per cent holding in TNK-BP. Last [...]
Brooks and Coulson to face charges over phone hacking July 24, 2012 DAVID Cameron’s former head of communications Andy Coulson and ex-News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks are to face criminal charges in relation to phone hacking offences, it was announced yesterday. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) alleges that 600 people were targeted between 2000 and 2006. Brooks and Coulson face specific charges of conspiring to intercept the voicemails [...]
EU and Google agree outlined antitrust deal July 24, 2012 GOOGLE has agreed on the basis of an antitrust settlement with the EU, it emerged last night. The EU’s competition commissioner Joaquín Almunia has accepted proposals from the internet giant on changes to the way it ranks its search results. Although the deal has not been finalised, developments have opened the door for Google to [...]
Investors cheer Man Group cuts to save $100m July 24, 2012 ALTERNATIVE fund manager Man Group said yesterday it would cut more staff in an attempt to resize the business amid falling asset allocations from investors, sending its shares higher. Chief executive Peter Clarke announced a further round of cost cuts totalling $100m (£64.5m), including headcount reductions, on top of a planned $95m squeeze announced in [...]
Spring turns to a summer of love as investors look to sunny side July 24, 2012 MAN Group showed yesterday that the City already has plenty of investors with a long-term outlook, as it announced further outflows and another round of cuts, only to see a significant gain in its share price. Meanwhile Vodafone’s shares fell more than one per cent, in the wake of tough first quarter numbers out on [...]
Provident cards boost earnings July 24, 2012 PROVIDENT Financial, the money lending firm, revealed a 17 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to £72.9m yesterday due to a surge in people using its low-limit credit cards. The jump was led by its Vanquis Bank business, which increased pre-tax profits by 60 per cent to £28.2m. Chief exec Peter Crook told City A.M.: [...]
