Protect your descendants from the axe of the taxman June 17, 2010 AHEAD of the general election, there was plenty of chatter about the Conservatives’ pledge to raise the inheritance tax (IHT) threshold to £1m. But the importance of appeasing the Liberal Democrats has superseded the need to appeal to the Tory heartland. The threshold is expected to remain at £325,000 for an individual and £650,000 for [...]
Volcker rule to hurt M&A, warn analysts June 17, 2010 THE “Volcker Rule” provision of Wall Street reform legislation being finalised by Congress would put a lid on domestic mergers and acquisitions by the largest US banks, analysts warned yesterday. Further growth through M&A would be blocked for Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Fargo, said Barclays Capital analysts. “A law like this [...]
OSBORNE: BANK IS KING OF CITY June 16, 2010 GEORGE Osborne unveiled sweeping changes to the way the City is regulated last night, scrapping the Financial Services Authority and giving a beefed-up Bank of England huge powers. Bank governor Mervyn King is set to become one of most influential central bankers in the world under the shake-up, with responsibility for maintaining the overall stability [...]
Ex-OFT expert brought in to probe banks June 16, 2010 SIR John Vickers, the former boss of the Office of Fair Trading, has been appointed to lead a wide-ranging review into the future shape of the banking industry. Announcing the appointment in the Commons, chancellor George Osborne said Vickers would be asked to investigate the best “size, scale and function” of banks in the future. [...]
Sky set to see shareholders June 16, 2010 NICHOLAS Ferguson, the senior independent director of BSkyB, which is facing an outright bid from its largest shareholder News Corporation, has intimated he wants to see some of the larger shareholders in the group to listen to their views about the bid price. Ferguson was travelling yesterday on unrelated business but he will no doubt [...]
LISTED PRODUCT NEWS June 16, 2010 MAY RECORD ETF MONTH FOR BARCLAYS As the stock markets plummeted in May, ETF trading volumes picked up sharply, according to figures from Barclays Stockbrokers. Monthly trading volumes were at their highest on record – up 44 per cent on the previous month and up 52 per cent on May 2009. Barclays Stockbrokers said that [...]
UK inflation retreats from a record high June 15, 2010 FALLING food and petrol prices dampened inflationary pressures last month and caused the consumer prices index (CPI) to retreat from its 17-month April high to an annual rate of 3.4 per cent in May. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the largest downward contribution to the change in the CPI annual rate came [...]
Cowdery takes £2bn AXA rights issue pitch to major shareholders June 15, 2010 RESOLUTION was in talks with its largest shareholders yesterday over the planned £2bn rights issue it will use to part-fund a swoop on AXA’s UK life and pensions business. Insurance entrepreneur Clive Cowdery’s team, led by former Lazard banker Jon Hack, is understood to be discussing a novel underwriting structure with investors including Aviva, Legal [...]
Outrage starting to ease in oil spill situation June 15, 2010 IN the last two weeks of this saga we have seen tensions in US-UK relations rise at the highest levels, with Obama accused of anti-British sentiment and Cameron called on to intervene, while BP chief executive officer Tony Hayward has been widely accused of callousness in the face of the environmental disaster. BrandIndex tracks the [...]
Fading Eurozone fears push banks up while bid activity sends BSkyB higher June 15, 2010 A RALLY by banks, fuelled by demand in European bond auctions on easing debt concerns, helped Britain’s top share index higher yesterday, with BSkyB up after an approach by News Corp. The FTSE 100 closed up 15.69 points or 0.3 per cent at 5,217.82, the highest closing level since 15 May, and taking its winning [...]