£459m deal for high voltage transmission link to London Array secured by favoured consortium September 10, 2013 The consortium Blue Transmission London Array – comprising Barclays infrastructure Funds Management and a UK subsidy of Mitsubishi Corporation – has been named by Ofgem as the owners and operators of the new £459m high voltage link to the London Array offshore wind farm, after a sell off by the London Array joint venture. We [...]
Chief regulator thinks interest swaps compensation should be complete by April 2014 September 10, 2013 Compensation for interest rate swap mis-selling should be complete by April 2014, according to the chief executive of the Finacial Conduct Authority (FCA). So far only £500,000 has been paid out for just 10 cases. Banks have taken on 2,800 staff to deal with more than 30,000 cases. FCA boss Martin Wheatley said that "nobody [...]
Pressure on Vodafone as investors pile into Kabel stock September 9, 2013 VODAFONE is under increasing pressure to change the terms of its €7.7bn (£6.5bn) purchase of Kabel Deutschland ahead of tomorrow’s deadline, as it was revealed yesterday that shareholders have increased their stake in the company. The German telecoms operator said yesterday that Paul E Singer, of Elliott Asset Management, has increased his holdings in the [...]
Icap enters late stage talks to put Libor rigging claims to rest September 9, 2013 ICAP, the interdealer broker, is in late stage talks with US and UK regulators to settle longstanding claims over the Libor rigging scandal for about £70m. The broker, led by City grandee Michael Spencer, is understood to be nearing a deal with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority to pay it £20m and US Department of [...]
Upgrade work shuts out some Boris Bike users September 9, 2013 CASUAL users of Boris Bikes will not be able to use the cycle hire scheme on Saturday night or Sunday, as TfL upgrades the docking sites ahead of expansion in south and west London. TfL said the work will make it easier for members to view all the journeys they made in the past year [...]
Recruiters point to strongest fourth quarter since the crash September 9, 2013 EMPLOYERS are set to take on more staff in the fourth quarter, with one recruiting group foreseeing the best end to any year since before the financial crisis. According to research published yesterday by Manpower, 2013 is likely to have the strongest fourth quarter for hiring since 2007, as the budding economic recovery begins to [...]
Bank of the year September 9, 2013 2013 may be remembered as the year the banking sector shook off the shadow of the financial crisis and really came back into its own. Profitability is up, lenders are at last overcoming tough new regulatory hurdles and a stable future could be just around the corner. Here is our pick of the top five [...]
Why capital rules could limit the impact of new competition in banking September 9, 2013 THE NEW TSB bank was finally launched yesterday. The spin-off of 631 branches and 4.6m customers from Lloyds means that the UK now has the first new major competitor to the existing banks since the start of the financial crisis. And when RBS spins off 315 of its branches, Britain will have a further mid-size [...]
Political risks rising in the Eurozone September 9, 2013 The rise of populist parties across the bloc and high unemployment may lead to more market volatility, writes Liam Ward-Proud RECOVERY in the Eurozone is certainly underway. The region ended its 18-month recession in the second quarter, posting growth of 0.3 per cent. European equities, despite a few blips, have also performed strongly, with the [...]
Young workers want more help to understand their finances September 8, 2013 GENERATION Y employees want more financial education at work, and do not understand benefit packages designed by their baby boomer elders, a Barclays report reveals today. And workers are increasingly saving too little for their pensions, according to Scottish Widows. The average amount workers are willing to save has dropped 24 per cent from £67 [...]