Sky board to back Murdoch as chairman July 27, 2011 JAMES Murdoch is expected to get the backing of the BSkyB board today for his continuing as chairman of the company despite the various inquiries taking place into the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World while he was the organisation’s most senior executive. One or two independent directors on the satellite broadcaster’s board [...]
Santander profit dented by UK insurance payouts July 27, 2011 Spain’s Banco Santander is to take a one-off charge of 620 million euros (£547m) to provide for insurance mis-selling claims in Britain, hurting its first-half profit. British banks including Lloyds and Barclays have unveiled billions of pounds of charges to cover compensation for mis-selling on payment protection insurance policies (PPI). Santander said on Wednesday first-half [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS July 26, 2011 Cushman & Wakefield The world’s largest privately-held commercial real estate services firm has appointed Sophie Hodges as consulting manager in its Europe, Middle East and Asia business consulting team. Hodges rejoins from Ernst & Young, having previously worked at Cushman & Wakefield as a client solutions consultant from 2007 to 2009. In her new role [...]
Strong results nudge FTSE up in spite of US debt stalemate July 26, 2011 BRITAIN’S top shares managed modest gains yesterday as solid results from blue-chips including drugmaking group GlaxoSmithKline and energy firm BG Group more than offset an earnings miss from heavyweight BP. Volume on the FTSE 100 was thin, however, as investors waited for clarity from US debt ceiling talks. The UK benchmark index ended up 4.47 [...]
FTSE up but GDP data casts shadow July 26, 2011 Investors were apparently gaining in confidence that the US would break its deadlock over a debt deal as the FTSE 100 opened on the front foot today. The US is under pressure to rescue its Triple A credit rating by upping its debt ceiling – a controversial move which has driven a wedge between Republicans [...]
Fear returns to markets July 25, 2011 CONFIDENCE in politicians’ ability to solve the debt crises of the developed world collapsed yesterday, sending bank shares into a tailspin and ramping up the cost of sovereign borrowing. As US politicians bickered over the debt ceiling and investors fled EU financial stocks, Italy was forced to cancel a bond auction set for August on [...]
Cable: end universal banking July 25, 2011 VINCE Cable, the business secretary, will today call on the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) to sound the death-knell for universal banking by backing a form of ring-fencing that is just as tough as a full-scale break up of Britain’s banks. His intervention will put pressure on the ICB to explain why it has decided [...]
Yorkshire Building Society buys Egg assets from Citi July 25, 2011 BRITISH mortgage lender Yorkshire Building Society is to buy the mortgage and savings business of Egg Banking from US bank Citigroup, as Citi continues to sell non-core assets after its bailout during the credit crisis. Yorkshire, owned by its customers, said the Egg businesses it was acquiring comprised of a £2.5bn savings book and a [...]
Banks report small appetite for borrowing July 25, 2011 LENDING to companies, consumers and house-buyers remained muted in June despite a pick-up in the number of mortgage approvals, the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) announced yesterday. Net unsecured lending to consumers continued its steady decline, down by £100m in the month – matching the six month average and the fall recorded in May. Lending to [...]
Business morale dips in Belgium July 25, 2011 Business confidence in Belgium dropped for the fourth month in a row in July. The Belgian national bank index fell to minus 2.5 in July from minus 1.1 in June. Economists had expected the index to decline to around minus 2.1. “The services sector sub index actually rose from 10.4 to 13.9, while all other [...]