‘The world of Cat TV is more cut throat than you would ever imagine’ – inside the strange business of TV… for cats
Pru repays customers £4m for undervalued pensions April 13, 2011 INSURANCE giant Prudential said yesterday it would repay about £4m in total to 39,000 customers after it admitted making errors in valuing their pension funds. The Pru failed to return tax credits to unit-linked pensions funds held with Scottish Amicable, which transferred to Prudential in 2008, leaving some customers who partly sold or transferred their [...]
Swaps curbs to hit US firms April 12, 2011 LARGE non-financial US companies will be required to post collateral for derivatives transactions if they exceed a predetermined limit for credit exposure, according to proposals issued by regulators yesterday. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC), which along with the Federal Reserve and other regulators, has produced the rules as part of the Dodd-Frank reform Act, [...]
CITY VIEWS: HOW WORRIED ARE YOU ABOUT INFLATION? April 12, 2011 GAVIN SUMMERS | XL INSURANCE “I’m quite worried because the cost of living is going up. My pay increase was below inflation so it was essentially a pay decrease.” ANDY PEACOCK | AXA INSURANCE “I’m not worried. I have a mortgage and credit card but it is not that bad if you consider the cost [...]
CPP rocked as Barclaycard suspends deal April 11, 2011 CREDIT card insurer CPP suffered a fresh blow yesterday after it revealed Barclaycard has decided to stop using its services, which are currently under scrutiny from the Financial Services Authority (FSA). Shares in the firm plummeted 14 per cent to 129p after Barclaycard put on hold the use of its “call to confirm” service, used [...]
FTSE lags over China’s rate hike and European debt fears April 5, 2011 BRITAIN’S top share index edged lower yesterday as miners fell on concerns that an interest rate hike in China could hurt demand for metals and banks dropped on worries over European debt. The FTSE 100 closed down 9.92 points, or 0.2 per cent, at 6,007.06, having rallied 7.4 per cent off lows hit in March [...]
BEST OF THE BROKERS April 4, 2011 SERCO Morgan Stanley rates the outsourcing group “equal-weight” with a target price of 650p. The broker is disappointed by the small number of work and pensions contracts the firm picked up last week, and expects Serco’s revenues from welfare-to-work programmes to drop in the second-half of the year. While the impact on overall forecasts will [...]
Denmark could teach Ireland a lesson March 31, 2011 SO Ireland’s banks need another €24bn if they are to become strong enough to withstand another shock. It is a fiscal catastrophe of immense proportions to which the European establishment doesn’t seem to have much of an answer, at least not right now. But if you want to see how to really deal with troubled [...]
CHILL OUT FOR PRINCE ON POLAR MISSION March 30, 2011 COLD comfort for Prince Harry, who has arrived at Base Camp at Svalbard in Norway to join the Walking for Wounded team before they set off for the North Pole tomorrow on April Fool’s Day. But Harry’s training regime under expedition leader Inge Solheim is no joke – on Wednesday he spent the day cross-country [...]
Co-operative profit jumps after merger March 30, 2011 CO-OPERATIVE Financial Services saw pre-tax profit rise 5.5 per cent last year to £53.3m, with the bank attributing a steep drop in costs to synergies after its 2009 merger with Britannia. But earnings were dented by a sharp rise in claims due to weather-related chaos early last year, with the bank estimating a claims cost [...]
S&P fuels fear over Eurozone March 29, 2011 STANDARD & POOR’S downgraded Greece and Portugal’s sovereign credit ratings yesterday, sending their borrowing costs up. Greece’s rating has been cut to BB-, close to junk status and worse than Egypt’s credit standing, while Portugal is now rated BBB- with a negative outlook by S&P. The yield on Portugal’s ten- and two-year bonds jumped to [...]