Proposals out on living wills December 16, 2009 EMPLOYEES will be guaranteed the option of working out a notice period and clients promised swift access to their money in the event of a future high-profile investment bank failure, under the terms of proposed government legislation unveiled yesterday. City minister Lord Myners launched the consultation paper on so-called “living wills” – measures for an [...]
SOVEREIGN SCORES A COUP AS IT NETS BANK GRANDEE BOB WIGLEY December 16, 2009 MY MY , but hasn’t it been an eventful few months for Aim-listed home equity release firm Sovereign Reversions? Back in August, Countrywide chairman Harry Hill and a couple of fellow dissident shareholders caused a touch of controversy by trying to oust Sovereign’s board and put the company into run-off by sending out pre-ticked proxy [...]
Government’s RBS policy may cost the taxpayer December 16, 2009 ALISTAIR DARLING’S attack on bonuses last week has caused a furore in the Square Mile. However, the pre-Budget Report is perhaps in the long-term not the most important bonus-related event that has taken place in recent weeks. That was when the government acted to limit bonuses at RBS, of which it owns 84 per cent. [...]
Nobody should ever be bailed out again December 15, 2009 CAPITALISM only really works when success is rewarded and failure punished. So as the New Year approaches, here is a radical suggestion: let us usher in a new era of personal responsibility. Let 2010 be a year of no bailouts, no handouts, no bleating and no more blaming everybody else for one’s own mistakes. This [...]
Red Flag opens to the public December 7, 2009 Begbies Traynor, the insolvency and recovery specialist, will launch its Red Flag Alert system as a commercial tool to allow companies to measure the financial health of their customers and competitors. Until now, Red Flag Alert has been used internally by Begbies and for media houses to assess the corporate landscape in the UK. It [...]
Government first-class travel up December 6, 2009 The government’s Insolvency Service has more than trebled its spending on first-class rail travel over the past two years, the Conservatives claim. The Tories said the agency spent £600,265 on first-class rail travel in 2008-09, compared with £174,618 in 2006-07. Spending on first-class tickets rose to 45 per cent of all rail travel expenditure, from [...]
End of story for Borders November 26, 2009 BORDERS book store chain yesterday fell into adminstration and appointed insolvency and restructuring firm MCR at the eleventh hour after the firm’s adviser BDO Stoy Hayward pulled out at last minute due to a conflict of interest. BDO refused to comment. The ex-board of collapsed Woolworths recently warned that advisers should not act as administrators [...]
Darling and Osborne clash on secret loans November 25, 2009 A row broke out yesterday in the House of Commons after chancellor Alistair Darling and FSA boss Hector Sants defended the decision to keep secret the £61.6bn of emergency loans handed by the Bank of England to RBS and HBOS last year at the peak of the financial crisis. The loan facilities – £36.6bn for [...]
Airlines balk at passenger fund November 25, 2009 AIRLINES throughout Europe have hit back at European Union demands for them to set up a compensation fund for stranded passengers. European Union consumer commissioner Meglena Kuneva, will today call for insolvency protection rules to be widened to cover holidays and airline tickets booked by passengers over the internet. EU lawmakers also want grounded passengers [...]
Boom-town Qatar is becoming the New York City of the Middle East November 18, 2009 WHEN chancellor Alistair Darling announced the introduction of a 50 per cent tax on all income over £150,000 from April 2010, there was immediately talk of a mass exodus from the City. High earners, said the chancellor’s critics, would look to preserve their wealth and firms try to attract the best talent. Some were expected [...]