WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 13, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES RBS EYES SELL-OFF OF 300 BRANCHESRoyal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is exploring a government-backed plan to give up all its 312 RBS-branded branches in England and Wales, in a radical move to satisfy Brussels state-aid authorities that could boost business banking competition on the high street. Officials close to the negotiations say the [...]
Why the special relationship is still important October 4, 2009 AHEAD of this week’s Conservative Party conference, it is perhaps a good time to recollect the wise words of one of the party’s and country’s most celebrated leaders. In response to a crisis far graver than the one we have just experienced, Winston Churchill coined the phrase “special relationship” to describe the close connection between [...]
Fresh tax hikes on business are senseless October 1, 2009 IF you want a taste of things to come, look no further than the devastating tax hikes that are about to hit London’s struggling private sector firms. Business rates are about to jump, in many cases by 30-40 per cent or more. The reason: the tax, which is set by the Treasury but collected by [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING September 24, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES DNO AIMS TO SAVE KURDISH VENTUREShares in DNO International, the Norwegian oil company, plunged more than 45 per cent on Thursday as trading resumed in the stock for the first time since Kurdish authorities threatened to cancel its licence to export oil from Iraq. Helge Eide, chief executive of DNO, told the Financial [...]
EU unveils its banking plans and watchdog September 23, 2009 THE European Union yesterday unveiled its blueprint for an overhaul of the way banks and financial markets are policed, a central plank in new rules designed to prevent a repeat of the global economic crisis. It plans to create a banking super-watchdog, with powers to overrule countries such as Britain, and a pan-European supervisor that [...]
OFT SENDING OUT MESSAGE TO BUSINESS September 22, 2009 MICHAEL GRENFELLCOMPETITION LAW PARTNER AT NORTON ROSE LLP THE huge fines imposed yesterday by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) on UK construction companies for cartel activity send a strong signal to British business generally: the authorities will penalise anti-competitive behaviour, even in a recession. The fines totalling £129.5m on 103 construction firms for bid [...]
US to revamp M&A code in blow to firms September 22, 2009 US ANTITRUST authorities are revamping guidelines on company mergers and takeovers in a bid to encourage greater competition, potentially causing a headache for firms looking to tie the knot. The 17-year old guidelines are to be overhauled amid expectations that the Obama administration will give corporate combinations a tougher review. Federal Trade Commission Chairman Jon [...]
GOLD’S HIGHS OFFER SELLING POTENTIAL September 13, 2009 JANE FOLEYRESEARCH DIRECTOR, FOREX.COMTHE market returned from its summer holidays last week with a hearty appetite for risk, undermining the US dollar so much that euro-dollar rallied into a new trading range and, unsurprisingly, boosting the price of oil and metals. What was surprising, however, was the surge in gold, which broke the $1,000/oz level [...]
As the runt of the mobile litter, 3 will not survive September 10, 2009 AND then there were three. Or at least there will be, because Hutchison Whampoa’s 3 will find it extremely tough to survive following the merger of T-Mobile and Orange in the UK. That would leave what analysts are dubbing “T-Orange”, with a 37 per cent share of mobile revenues in the UK, O2 with 27 [...]
FSAunder fire as building societies fight rules boost September 6, 2009 CITY financial watchdog the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has come under fire from building societies over its proposals to clamp down on their ability to lend to consumers. The lenders are understood to have teamed up and sent a fierce letter, through the Building Societies Association, to warn the FSA the rules will hamper their [...]