FTSE given lift by airline deal December 22, 2011 The FTSE 100 nudged up this morning led by BA owner International Airlines group (IAG) which announced a deal for Lufthansa’s bmi. Overall European shares started higher with the FTSEurofirst 300 index gaining around one per cent in early trade while global stocks, as measured by MSCI world equity index, were edged up 0.2 per [...]
Ten of the top givers in the City December 21, 2011 AS we now know from the tremendous response to this newspaper’s first ever Christmas charity appeal, the City is full of givers. Despite the tougher times many of our readers have experienced, as a group this year they dug in to support a charity that helps people help themselves. This page is a tribute to [...]
Admiral slides as car insurers face OFT probe December 14, 2011 SHARES in motor insurer Admiral fell more than four per cent yesterday after the competition watchdog said it would probe whether motor insurance firms were inflating prices for fixing crashed cars yesterday. The Office of Fair Trading said it was concerned that drivers paying for third-party repair claims and courtesy cars are charged too much [...]
Morgan Stanley takes a $1.8bn hit in MBIA case December 13, 2011 MORGAN Stanley and MBIA have agreed a settlement that will remove some risky derivative contracts from the bank’s books and end lawsuits the parties had filed against one another. The deal, announced yesterday, will result in a $1.8bn (£1.16bn) charge for Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter. After a tax credit, the bank will lose [...]
CPP shares slump on profit warning and probe worries December 12, 2011 SHARES in CPP Group plunged by nearly a sixth yesterday after the credit card insurer said a regulatory probe would drag down profits. Its stock closed at 117p last night, down 15.83 per cent, 21 months after listing at 235p. The group said it does not know how long the Financial Services Authority will spend [...]
Markets choppy as Europe rift widens December 9, 2011 The FTSE began to slip this morning as investors digested the impact of a new Eurozone agreement over fiscal integration which was shunned by Britain. Britain torpedoed the chances of a consensus as Prime Minister David Cameron refused to accept plans for a financial transactions tax that would clobber the City. Three French banks were [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS December 8, 2011 Accor Jean-Jacques Dessors has been promoted to chief operating officer of the hotels group for the Middle East, Africa, Indian Ocean and Caribbean Islands, effective from January 2012. Dessors is currently COO for Accor UK and Ireland, responsible for the Sofitel, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, Ibis, All Seasons and Etap hotels. He has expanded Accor’s UK [...]
Banks and miners fuel FTSE gains December 7, 2011 Miners and banks fuelled a lift in the FTSE 100 as investor sentiment improved ahead of a crunch Eurozone summit. The blue chip index mirrored Asia and the US where markets recovered from the ratings blow from Standard & Poor’s, which threatened to downgrade 15 nations, including Germany. There is mounting optimism that Eurozone leaders [...]
OSBORNE TO REVEAL PAY OF 120 TOP UK BANKERS December 6, 2011 SENIOR banking executives face having their pay packages published after chancellor George Osborne unveiled a new transparency regime for the 15 largest banks operating in the UK. The Treasury says the new rules, which demand the publication of rewards given to the eight most senior non-board executives, will help investors police a bank’s “risk profile”. [...]
A £2bn tax cut shouldn’t be sniffed at December 6, 2011 CREDIT where credit is due. We are always quick to criticise the fiddly micro-measures so beloved by the Treasury, mere baby steps that do nothing to boost the competitiveness of UK Plc. But when it comes to corporation tax, the coalition has made great strides. By 2015-16, the exchequer will collect some £2bn less in [...]