Theo Fennell plans to expand overseas despite tough Xmas July 25, 2012 THEO FENNELL, the eponymous founder of the luxury jewellery brand, said yesterday he remained focused on bringing the company back into the black this year after reporting a pre-tax loss of £1.21m. While sales were up nine per cent in the first half of the year, the company said “a difficult Christmas” due to a [...]
Co-op to break dominance of top tier banks July 19, 2012 MILLIONS of Lloyds customers are set to become Co-op clients under the deal announced yesterday, making the smaller bank a new “challenger” to the UK’s dominant big five. Under the deal, set to be finalised by Christmas, the Co-op will issue £350m of subordinated debt in the coming months as an initial payment for the [...]
Philanthropy only works when big donors treat charity like investment July 12, 2012 THIS week’s announcement that British venture capitalist Michael Moritz has given £75m to Oxford University is a welcome reminder of the great contribution that many in the financial services industry continue to make to worthy causes, either in public or behind the scenes. Moritz’s gift will support scholarships for the poorest students. In so doing, [...]
Farepak customers to get 50p in £1 July 10, 2012 Customers of defunct Christmas savings firm Farepak will receive half of any money they lost when the firm collapsed, its liquidators said yesterday. BDO confirmed that payments to those that lost money will be made in August, with funds coming from a combination of an £8m payment from bank Lloyds, and a contribution from the [...]
BRANSON: UK IS AT RISK OF JOINING THE THIRD WORLD July 8, 2012 BRITAIN will fall behind the rest of the world unless a “bold, brave” stance on airline growth is adopted by the government, Virgin founder Sir Richard Branson warned yesterday. Speaking at the launch of new Virgin Atlantic routes to Cancun and Moscow, Branson hit out at leaders who stand in the way of expansion at [...]
How readers make a big difference July 4, 2012 The City A.M. Christmas Appeal, which raised £1.5m in total, has enabled Opportunity International to expand its grassroots banking services to the south of Malawi. The southern region is one of the poorest areas in the country. I’m delighted to share with you how the City A.M. appeal is already making a big difference. What [...]
BANKS GO UNDER THE MICROSCOPE July 2, 2012 DAVID Cameron yesterday announced two wide-ranging inquiries into the banking system, pledging to probe the “culture and standards of the industry and bring those responsible for fixing the Libor interest rate to justice”. “The British people want to see bankers who acted improperly punished,” Cameron told the House of Commons. The news came soon after [...]
Knight and the BBA put banker bash on hold July 2, 2012 Angela Knight, the departing chief executive of the British Bankers’ Association, was yesterday forced to cancel the industry body’s summer party amid the continuing furore over the Libor interest rate scandal. News of the scrapped banker bash came via an email from Ben Andersen-Tuffnell to invitees, advising them that the shindig, planned for tomorrow on [...]
RIM’s losses mount as new BlackBerry is delayed June 28, 2012 BLACKBERRY manufacturer Research in Motion (RIM) last night announced worse-than-expected quarterly losses and said it has been forced to delay the launch of its new operating system until early next year, a potentially devastating setback for the struggling firm. RIM said consumers would have to wait for devices running its next-generation BlackBerry 10 software because [...]
Cable refers HBOS to FSA June 28, 2012 BUSINESS secretary Vince Cable yesterday threatened HBOS with a regulatory probe relating to the bank’s role in the collapse of Christmas savings firm Farepak. Cable said he would refer HBOS to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) after a high court judge said it was the bank’s decision to extract around £10m from Farepak that pushed [...]