Branson named by OFT in cartel trial April 27, 2010 VIRGIN Atlantic owner Sir Richard Branson has been named during opening statements made to a London court yesterday over his airline’s involvement with British Airways (BA) in price-fixing allegations made by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). Prosecutor Richard Latham QC told a jury at the Southwark Crown Court that Branson had asked senior executive [...]
Commerzbank handed a £595k penalty by FSA April 27, 2010 COMMERZBANK is the latest financial institution to be handed a fine by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) after it was ordered to pay £595,000 for inaccurately providing transaction reports. The financial regulator yesterday slapped the German banking giant with the fine and accused it of failing to report trading transactions throughout a two-year period. Under [...]
Candover attracts bid approach from Alberta Investment April 27, 2010 PRIVATE equity firm Candover Investments said yesterday – after the stock market closed – that it had received an initial approach from a third party to acquire the company, after its fall from grace earlier this year. Candover said any offer was expected to be at a price no higher than its last reported net [...]
JOHNSON FIRST TO RIDE NEW RAIL LINE April 27, 2010 LONDON Mayor Boris Johnson was the first passenger to ride the new £1bn East London Line, which opened yesterday with a “preview” service of eight trains an hour between New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction. The new line will connect Highbury & Islington to South Croydon by 2011 and Clapham Junction by 2012.
Underground to review plans April 27, 2010 Chris Bolt, the PPP Arbiter, said yesterday that proposed work by the London Underground cannot be financed as the public transport system cannot afford to pay for it. Bolt also decided to delay financing for Tube Lines so that the London Underground can either demonstrate how it intends to pay for work valued at £4.46bn [...]
Barclays sells Africa custody unit April 27, 2010 Barclays said yesterday it would sell its African custody business to Standard Chartered, its emerging markets-focused rival. The bank, which did not disclose the value of the deal, said it had exited the global custody business outside Africa in 1998 and that the remaining African unit is profitable but “would benefit from the synergies a [...]
ICICI April 27, 2010 In a story in Monday’s paper headlined “Indian bank ICICI to fight judgement” we referred to $1m in trading losses incurred by ICICI’s UK subsidiary. We understand that those losses were not incurred by the former ICICI trader, Grant Jones, and are happy to make this clear.
Retail sales up again in April but pace stalls April 27, 2010 BRITISH retail sales volumes grew for a third straight month in April, albeit at a slightly slower pace than expected, and retailers are confident of an acceleration next month, a survey showed yesterday. But a sustained recovery in consumer spending looks threatened by signs the housing market may be running out of steam and the [...]
March mortgage lending up after a dip in February April 27, 2010 THE number of approvals for UK home loans rose slightly in March after a dip in February and were almost 20 per cent up on the year before, data showed yesterday. The British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said net mortgage lending growth had eased as homeowners paid off debt. The BBA report said the number of [...]
CMI: Recession biting business April 27, 2010 A Chartered Management Institute (CMI) report says the recession is still hurting 82 per cent of businesses. The CMI’s economic outlook report also found job insecurity at record levels. According to the CMI, the reduction in the availability of both long-term finance and short-term investment has forced managers to continue to make tough choices to [...]
