THE TIPSTER March 13, 2011 THURSDAY’S credit rating downgrade by Moody’s for Spain did the local equity market few favours and while we may still be some way above the 12 months lows of May 2010 when the Spanish stock index, Ibex, hit 8,562, the near term challenge will likely be holding onto the psychologically significant 10,000 level. The current [...]
Eurocrats back new tax on City March 8, 2011 THE European Parliament voted yesterday to slap a Tobin tax on all financial transactions that pass through Europe, in a bid to raise €200bn (£172bn) for EU?spending. The tax would disproportionately hit the City, Europe’s financial capital, at a time when banks are struggling to build up their capital bases. The EU?Parliament said the proposal, [...]
BUSINESS AS USUAL AS BORIS BIKES TO CANNES March 8, 2011 IF you happened to be in Cannes yesterday afternoon, you would have been treated to the sight of a middle-aged, straw-haired man riding a Boris Bike into the centre of town. On closer inspection, you would have spotted that that figure was, in fact, the London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was livening up the MIPIM [...]
Government set to unveil £140 flat-rate pension March 7, 2011 IN a radical shake-up of the basic state pension system, pensioners are set to receive a flat-rate of £140 a week, the government is set to reveal today. The pension reforms, to be unveiled by work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, are aimed at simplying the current complex system made up of a basic [...]
Moody’s sees rising risk of Greek default March 7, 2011 MOODY’S delivered a jolt to Eurozone bond markets yesterday by downgrading Greece three notches to B1 – a lower rating than Egypt – and assigning the sovereign a “negative” outlook. The yield on Greece’s three-year debt reached highs not seen since the government had to be bailed out last May, spiking to 16.8 per cent, [...]
ING to repay 70 per cent of Dutch bailout by May 2011 March 7, 2011 Dutch bancassurer ING has outlined plans for early repayment of its credit crunch bailout from the Dutch government. ING said that by May 2011 it will have repaid €7bn (£6bn) out of a total €10bn it received from the Dutch state, with the remaining €3bn to be paid back by May 2012. Early repayment is [...]
Kwik-Fit unit to make £192m March 3, 2011 EUROPEAN private equity firm PAI Partners is expected to make £192m from its sale of Kwik-Fit to Japanese conglomerate ITOCHU, a deal first revealed by City A.M. on Wednesday (see right). PAI, which was being advised by Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, signed off on a £637m sale of Britain’s biggest tyre retailer to ITOCHU [...]
Citi sells Egg credit cards to Barclays March 1, 2011 BARCLAYS is buying the UK credit card portfolio of Egg from the online bank’s US owner Citi, transferring more than 1m customer accounts to the Barclaycard brand. The value of the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, has not been disclosed, but Barclay’s said it was buying the assets at a “significant discount” to [...]
HOW THE INSURANCE RULING COULD AFFECT YOU March 1, 2011 Q.WHAT IS THE RULING? A.The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that insurance companies cannot charge different premiums to men and women based on their gender. It also bans use of actuarial factors to calculate men’s and women’s pension contributions. Q.WHY HAS IT HAPPENED? A.The ruling amends the Gender Directive, which came into effect [...]
Moneysupermarket.com profit triples March 1, 2011 Price comparison website Moneysupermarket.com said its full-year pre-tax profit jumped more than three times due to growth in its insurance, money and home services business. The company, which offers services such as travel, insurance and money and uses actor and comedian Omid Djalili in its advertising, said trading in 2011 was in line with management [...]