Cameron backs Liam Fox October 10, 2011 PRIME MINISTER David Cameron said yesterday that Liam Fox made “serious mistakes” in his dealings with Adam Werritty but backed his embattled defence secretary pending a full report into his conduct. Cameron’s comments came after an interim report on Fox’s ties with Werritty – a close friend who has no official post within the government [...]
Dexia saved as fire sale of assets begins October 10, 2011 A FIRE SALE of Dexia assets was underway last night after France, Belgium and Luxembourg agreed to spend €90bn (£78.45bn) on a bailout for the crippled bank’s ailing bonds unit. The break-up of the group will see Dexia Bank Belgium, the largely retail division, sold to Belgium for €4bn. Dexia is also seeking backing from [...]
Liam Fox under fire over “serious mistakes” October 10, 2011 Defence secretary Liam Fox made “serious mistakes” in his dealings with his friend Adam Werritty but still has the prime minister’s support, David Cameron has said. Fox’s future had been in doubt over media and political accusations of risking national security by granting high level access to Werritty, his former flatmate, who has no official [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING October 9, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES WATCHDOG HITS FRENCH AUDITORS French auditors have been lambasted by the UK’s leading accountancy regulator for their performance during the Greek debt crisis. Stephen Haddrill, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, criticised the way French banks and insurers had been allowed by their auditors to post smaller losses on Greek government bonds [...]
Women start to make their presence felt on the board, says Lord Davies October 9, 2011 THE BOARDROOMS of Britain are becoming more female, says former trade minister Lord Davies, with recent appointments such as Karen Witts to the board of Wolseley helping to meet his target of 25 per cent female FTSE 100 boards by 2015. The full figures will be revealed at a Downing Street event on Wednesday, where [...]
Plan for Dexia rescue fund is taking shape October 5, 2011 CUSTOMERS pulled millions of euros from troubled Dexia yesterday but the Franco-Belgian bank avoided a full-scale run on deposits as a bailout appeared imminent. Belgian customers withdrew around €300m (£258.88bn) from Dexia accounts, excluding online transactions. The Belgian arm of the bank holds €80bn in deposits. An emergency package is set to be announced today [...]
Thomson Reuters to issue notes September 29, 2011 MEDIA conglomerate Thomson Reuters has announced it will offer $350m (£223m) of 10 year notes to refinance borrowings used to repay a recently expired bond issue. Barclays Capital, Deutsche Bank Securities, JP Morgan Securities and RBS Securities are the joint book-running managers for the offering. The offering is expected to close on 5 October, the [...]
Life in your hands: smartphone apps September 28, 2011 RIGHT, you’ve got the latest kit, the iPhone 4, iPad 2, BlackBerry Bold Touch perhaps, but your smartphone’s home screen is looking ever-so bare. Remedying this involves a trawl through app stores and user reviews without even knowing what you’re looking for. Fear not. We look beyond the social necessities of Facebook and Foursquare, and [...]
Reed Elsevier buys Accuity for £343m September 26, 2011 Publisher Reed Elsevier is bolstering its financial data business by buying US-based Accuity for £343m. The firm says it will combine Accuity with its Bankers’ Almanac and LexisNexis Risk Solutions businesses. It has agreed to acquire the online subscription data provider from Bahrain-listed investment manager Investcorp. Mark Kelsey, chief executive of Reed’s business information unit, [...]
UBS shake-up may take three years September 25, 2011 THE SHAKE-UP of the investment bank at UBS will take two to three years to complete, its chairman said yesterday after the resignation of Oswald Gruebel. Kaspar Villiger has asked interim chief executive Sergio Ermotti to quicken a scaling back of the investment bank so details can be revealed at the bank’s investor day on [...]