Cameron calls on insurers to cut premiums February 13, 2012 DAVID Cameron will today announce plans to reduce insurance premiums by cutting red tape, reducing legal bills and tackling the high number of spurious claims. Proposals include a plan to reduce the number of whiplash claims by enforcing a higher evidence threshold for injuries and cutting the £1,200 fee that lawyers can earn for small [...]
EX-TRADER’S INSIDE JOB ON MORGAN STANLEY February 12, 2012 ART IMITATES life in the new novel On the Floor by former Morgan Stanley bond trader Aifric Campbell. “The real truth about the City – the pressure and the ruthlessness – is best written about by people who have lived it,” says Campbell, who drew on her years as Morgan Stanley’s first female MD on [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 9, 2012 ICAEW Arthur Bailey has been elected as the next vice-president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Bailey, who will take office on 13 June, has served on ICAEW’s council for 14 years, including three years as chairman of the audit committee, and is a member of the board. He is [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS February 7, 2012 Qatar Financial Centre Authority Bob Wigley, chairman of Yell Group and former chairman of Merrill Lynch Europe, Middle East and Africa, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the Qatar Financial Centre Authority. In the new role, Wigley, who was appointed as an ambassador for UK business by David Cameron in 2011, will promote [...]
Pinsent Masons and McGrigors confirm merger February 6, 2012 CITY law firm Pinsent Masons yesterday confirmed it will merge with Edinburgh-based McGrigors, in a legal tie-up to create a company with a turnover of more than £300m. The combined firm will employ over 2,500 people in total including more than 1,500 lawyers, with around 500 based at Pinsents current headquarters in the legal heart [...]
City’s lawyers see rise in pay and bonuses January 18, 2012 CITY lawyers enjoyed an average increase of almost £10,000 on annual bonuses last year, up 25 per cent from the previous year, according to research out this morning from legal recruiter Laurence Simons. The 2011 average was £35,500 – up from £26,500 in 2010. However, the number of lawyers who received a bonus fell last [...]
Ministers on alert over age bias wrangle January 17, 2012 THE COALITION’S new rules on the retirement age could be plunged into confusion after a long-running discrimination case opened in the Supreme Court yesterday. Leslie Seldon, who was a partner at London law firm Clarkson Wright and Jakes, is taking his former employer to the highest court in the land after he was forced to [...]
Pay for in-house lawyers lagging behind inflation January 15, 2012 IN-HOUSE lawyers are facing a real-terms cut in salary for the second year running, new research has revealed this morning, with average pay increases across the sector failing to match the rate of inflation in the UK. In-house heads of legal have seen their salaries rise by an average of 2.5 per cent over the [...]
Swissie scandal engulfs governor January 4, 2012 SWISS National Bank governor Philipp Hildebrand will today break his silence on controversial currency trades made by his wife. Hildebrand has come under increasing pressure to clarify events, after details of foreign exchange transactions made from his personal accounts at Swiss private bank Sarasin were leaked by one of its employees to lawyers for the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING December 21, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES EX-LEHMAN CHIEF TO RUN SPAIN’S ECONOMY Spain’s new government has placed the economy in the hands of Luis de Guindos, former head of Lehman Brothers in Spain, as Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister, seeks to return the country to growth while embarking on a programme of budgetary austerity. As finance minister, Mr de [...]