Cowdery set to pay £2.8bn for AXA UK June 13, 2010 RESOLUTION, the insurance buyout vehicle, will ask the London market to suspend its shares this morning as it negotiates a £2.8bn takeover of AXA’s UK life and pensions business. The group, led by entrepreneur Clive Cowdery, will also give a brief update on talks with the French company. But a Rule 2.5 announcement providing full [...]
Business prefers VAT hike over NI rise June 13, 2010 MANUFACTURING and industrial bosses would overwhelmingly prefer a Vat rise to any other tax increase in the 22 June budget, according to accountant KPMG. A survey of 202 executives found 61 per cent saw a Vat hike as the lesser of several taxation evils, with a higher levy on national insurance viewed as the least [...]
US watchdog panel slams AIG bailout June 10, 2010 A REPORT by the Congressional Oversight Panel, set up by lawmakers to monitor the $700bn (£476bn) bailout fund, blasted the government’s $182bn bailout of insurance giant AIG for its continued “poisonous effect” on financial markets and said it’s still unclear whether taxpayers ever will be fully repaid. “For now, the ultimate cost or profit to [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING June 9, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BACKLASH OVER INDIAN FLOAT RULES India is facing a growing private sector backlash against a rule change that will lead to a flood of more than $50bn of new shares being listed over three years. There are concerns that the move could damage the country’s stock market and hamper economic growth. The Finance [...]
Leahy checks out of the top job at Tesco June 8, 2010 TESCO shocked the City yesterday by announcing that boss Sir Terry Leahy would retire in March. Sir Terry has led the chain for 14 years, overseeing its rise to become the UK’s leading supermarket group and will be replaced by international and IT director Philip Clarke. The chief executive, who will be 55 when he [...]
PERSONAL FINANCE NEWS June 3, 2010 NO OVERSEAS FX FEES WITH KALIXA Whether you are heading to South Africa for the World Cup or elsewhere this summer, you ought to be thinking about your currency arrangements as early as possible. Kalixa, the pre-paid Mastercard, has announced this week that it will be waiving its standard foreign exchange fee for all point-of-sale [...]
Pru told to list its Asian unit June 2, 2010 PRUDENTIAL is facing calls to realise the value of its Asian business through a stockmarket listing after its $35.5bn (£25bn) play for AIA lay in tatters yesterday. Chief executive Tidjane Thiam and chairman Harvey McGrath, who are fighting for their professional lives along with the rest of the board, will come under pressure to provide [...]
Fitch: Ratings risk posed by Solvency II June 2, 2010 EUROPEAN insurers may struggle to keep their credit ratings under stringent new capital requirements proposed by Brussels, assessment house Fitch warned yesterday. Insurance companies are expected to be ordered to increase the amount of capital they hold against their liabilities under Solvency II, the European Commission’s regulatory regime due to be introduced in 2012. In [...]
Banks drag FTSE down even lower June 2, 2010 BRITAIN’S top share index fell yesterday, led down by banks, but finished well off session lows on fresh hopes for economic recovery after strong US pending home sales data. The FTSE 100 closed 11.98 points or 0.2 per cent lower at 5,151.32, having dropped as low as 5,072.53. The index fell 0.5 per cent on [...]
UK bank stocks are attractive but precarious June 2, 2010 COMPARED to some of the financial institutions in continental Europe, Britain’s banks, even the part-nationalised ones, are managing to exude an air of respectability and even strength. While French and German financial institutions – banks and insurers – are estimated by Barclays Capital to hold just under €80bn of Greek debt, British banks have minimal [...]