Lloyds misses brunt of £2bn levy on banks June 22, 2010 STATE-OWNED Lloyds Banking Group emerged as the relative winner from an annual £2bn levy on banks’ balance sheets announced yesterday. The tax will apply to British banks and building societies, such as Barclays and the Skipton, and the UK operations of foreign institutions like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. From January 2011, banks will be charged [...]
THE BANK TAX EXPLAINED June 22, 2010 Q.WHICH INSTITUTIONS WILL THE TAX APPLY TO? A.The levy will be based on the balance sheets of UK?banks and building societies, the UK branches of foreign banks and the foreign branches of UK banks. For example, Société Générale’s operation in London will be hit the same as Barclays Capital’s unit in Paris. Q.WHY IS THE [...]
Budget brings down bank shares but delay in VAT rise gives retailers a boost June 22, 2010 WEAKER commodity stocks pulled Britain’s top share index lower yesterday, while retailers got a lift from the first emergency Budget from Britain’s new coalition government after an expected valued added tax rise was delayed. At the close, the FTSE was down 52.1 points, or 1.0 per cent, at 5,246.98, having hit its highest closing level [...]
Barclays boss rejects claim June 21, 2010 BARCLAYS president Bob Diamond was labelled “evasive” by a US judge yesterday as the legal clash between the British bank and parties representing Lehman Brothers intensified. Testifying before a bankruptcy court in Manhattan, Diamond accepted Barclays took Lehman Brothers’ US brokerage at a good price “in the context of the turmoil in the financial markets”, [...]
Barclays to deny foul play in bid June 20, 2010 BARCLAYS president Bob Diamond will today deny the British bank planned to pocket a secret $11bn (£7.5bn) windfall when it bought Lehman Brothers’ US brokerage at the height of the financial crisis. In a resumption of the bitter legal wrangle between Barclays and parties representing Lehman Brothers, Diamond is expected to tell a New York [...]
City expects budget cuts June 20, 2010 CITY economists have broadly backed the chancellor’s plans to launch what could be the sharpest fiscal tightening in Britain’s post-war history but warned that the squeeze could harm still-feeble growth. Despite the improving fiscal trend, George Osborne is expected to introduce additional tightening measures in his first Budget tomorrow to put the public finances onto [...]
WHAT WILL THE EFFECTS BE OF LIKELY BUDGET MEASURES? June 20, 2010 SIMON HAYES | BARCLAYS CAPITAL “Higher taxes, large cuts in public services and reduced welfare payments all seem likely. We would expect it to be viewed positively by financial markets.” MICHAEL SAUNDERS | CITIGROUP “A tightening of £25bn, split between a £10bn tax hike and eventual spending cuts of £15bn. This should mean a drop [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS June 20, 2010 Aviva The insurance giant has appointed Dipak Warren as a corporate risk solutions director. Warren joins from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance in London, which she joined in 2000. In her last role as active underwriter and director of the firm, she was responsible for the syndicate business plan and performance across property, casualty, motor, PI, marine, [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 17, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES UGANDA TAX ROW DELAYS HERITAGE SALE OF OIL FIELD Uganda is insisting that Heritage Oil, the UK-listed oil explorer, must agree to pay $360m (£243m) in capital gains tax on the “super profits” it will make on a $1.35bn oilfields sale before it will sanction the deal. Uganda’s energy minister said the government [...]
Seventh straight rise for FTSE 100 as BP bounces on US compensation deal June 17, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index rose for the seventh consecutive day yesterday, led by BP after its compensation deal with the White House, but gains were held in check by weak US jobs data hitting commodity-linked stocks. The FTSE 100 was up 15.97 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 5,253.89, to close at its highest since [...]