Ever-increasing regulation is boosting compliance careers February 8, 2012 ADL PARTNERS FIVE years ago I was working on a compliance mandate for an investment bank. As well as compliance professionals, the client was open to seeing individuals from other professions, in this case legal. Yet to retain the interest of lawyers and stop them from terminating the conversation it was imperative not to mention [...]
Glencore’s deal with Xstrata faces long road to clearance February 7, 2012 GLENCORE and Xstrata’s $90bn (£57bn) merger faces a long road to reach regulatory and competition clearance. While bigger commodities tie-ins have been cleared in the past – such as the deals that formed Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton – merging a clearing house with a miner could encounter new hurdles, analysts said yesterday after the [...]
EU competition law thwarts Vodafone’s Greek merger deal February 5, 2012 VODAFONE will scrap a $1bn merger of its Greek business with a local competitor due to the belief that EU regulatory authorities will block the deal. The deal with Wind Hellas will be called off due to “regulatory uncertainty” on EU competition law. The turmoil of the Greek economy, which is in a deep recession, [...]
It ain’t over until Ivan Glasenberg sings February 2, 2012 IT ain’t over till Ivan Glasenberg sings. Everyone knows the rationale for the deal: massive scale, a raft of cost-saving synergies, and a much-improved presence for Glencore in commodity markets. Indeed one of the main reasons the famously secretive Glencore went public was so it could bag Xstrata, whose other shareholders were cold on a [...]
Osborne to hand treasury new powers over BoE January 27, 2012 The finance ministry will have new powers to order the Bank of England to pump money into the financial system in any future banking crisis. “When taxpayers’ money is at risk in a crisis this legislation gives the Chancellor the power to direct the Bank of England to act,” Osborne said in a speech to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 26, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES OUTSOURCER SERCO TO CUT 500 JOBS Serco, the FTSE 100 outsourcer, is to overhaul its management structure, axeing at least 500 jobs, as it adapts to tougher market conditions in the UK, according to people close to the company. The group, which runs services including London’s bicycle hire scheme and four prisons, is [...]
Vodafone victory in India tax battle January 20, 2012 India’s tax office has no jurisdiction over Vodafone’s purchase of mobile assets in India, the Supreme Court ruled on Friday, in a big relief to the telecom giant that has been fighting a $2.2bn (£1.4bn) tax bill in a long-running dispute anxiously watched by foreign investors in India. Vodafone, challenging the tax bill over its [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING January 4, 2012 FINANCIAL TIMES SPANISH BANKS FACE EXTRA HIT OF €50BN Spain says it expects its banks to set aside up to €50bn in further provisions on their bad property assets as part of a new round of reforms for the country’s financial sector. Luis de Guindos, economy minister in the centre-right government that took office two [...]
Preparing for flawless execution: BT takes on the Olympic challenge December 20, 2011 COUNTDOWN TO THE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 219 DAYS TO GO Gavin Patterson, BT Retail chief executive, explains why his firm is the communication partner at the Games Q. WHAT WAS YOUR BRAND’S PRIMARY REASON FOR BEING INVOLVED WITH THE GAMES? A. We went through a rigorous exercise where we looked at what impact it [...]
HSBC gets loophole in Vickers proposals December 19, 2011 HSBC scored a major lobbying victory yesterday after the government inserted a loophole into the Vickers Commission proposals that could exempt the bank from its most onerous capital requirements. The bank had warned that issuing a swathe of new debt instruments as per the Vickers recommendations could cost it $2.1bn extra a year. In response, [...]