CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 8, 2012 AFC Energy The developer of low-cost alkaline fuel cell technology has announced the appointment of Sir John Sunderland as non-executive director of the company. Sunderland has spent 40 years in leadership roles, best known as the former chief executive and later as chairman of Cadbury Schweppes. Currently Sunderland is a non-executive director of Barclays Bank, [...]
War on Britain’s aspirational classes March 6, 2012 THERE is something very wrong with Britain’s tax system. Imagine you are an aspiring, successful hard-working individual; after several years putting in the hours, you now earn £42,475 a year. You’re already a victim of the tax system: you pay no tax on your first £8,105, but then face 20 per cent tax on the [...]
War on Britain’s aspirational classes March 5, 2012 THERE is something very wrong with Britain’s tax system. Imagine you are an aspiring, successful hard-working individual; after several years putting in the hours, you now earn £42,475 a year. You’re already a victim of the tax system: you pay no tax on your first £8,105, but then face 20 per cent tax on the [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 5, 2012 Warburg Pincus The private equity firm focused on growth investing has announced the appointment of Francesco Granata as an executive-in-residence, focusing on the healthcare sector. Granata will be based in Warburg Pincus’ London office, and will help the firm assess new investments in the biopharmaceutical sector. He has over 35 years experience in the pharmaceutical [...]
Credit default insurers will not pay out over Greece March 1, 2012 GREECE has not defaulted on its debts after all because the government has negotiated a “voluntary” haircut with investors, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) controversially ruled yesterday. As a result, €3bn (£2.5bn) in insurance contracts taken out against the risk of Greece defaulting will not be paid out, even though bondholders face heavy [...]
Cassin moves from adviser to finance head at the data firm March 1, 2012 BRIAN Cassin (pictured inset) is to leave Greenhill after 14 years at the end of April. And though the jump from investment bank to UK-listed data specialist Experian will be a change of pace, it won’t be a total culture shock for the Irish-born banker. Cassin has spent years advising the company, working with predecessor GUS [...]
CPP future still at risk as banks withdraw backing February 26, 2012 TROUBLED credit card insurer CPP faces the loss of its banking facilities unless it can reassure lenders that its business is secure. Barclays, Santander and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are considering whether to withdraw financial backing from the York-based firm when the existing arrangement ends next year. The firm currently has borrowings of around [...]
THE WEEK AHEAD February 26, 2012 Today A diverse group of FTSE 100 reporters will kick off a busy week in the corporate calendar this morning, with banking giant HSBC likely to be top of many investors’ watch list. Analysts are expecting the bank’s geographical diversity to offset any potential weakness in it investment banking division, with profits expected to hit [...]
City AM interview Paul Fisher of the Bank of England February 23, 2012 Senior Bank of England official Paul Fisher was interviewed on Wednesday 22nd February 2012, by Allister Heath and Julian Harris from City A.M. The edited transcript is as follows: Paul, would you like to start with how you see the outlook at the moment? I think it continues to be a story where the outlook [...]
Britain’s growth will be powered by smaller firms February 23, 2012 WHEN Xavier Rolet, chief executive of London Stock Exchange Group, said in City A.M. on 9 January that small and medium enterprises provide the best hope for reviving the UK economy, I cheered. “Without the growth of fledgling companies, there will be little meaningful job creation,” he said. How true. When regulators and politicians talk [...]