What was in Osborne’s red box: our quick summary March 22, 2012 THE ECONOMY/PUBLIC FINANCES The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts that UK GDP will grow by around 0.8 per cent this year, the same rate as in 2011, up from its earlier forecast of 0.7 per cent. The beneficial effects of falling inflation are expected to be offset by uncertainty over the Eurozone and tighter [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS March 21, 2012 Ashurst The leading international law firm has announced that James Collins has been appointed as managing partner, with effect from 1 May 2012. Collins trained at Ashurst and became partner in 2005. He is currently a banking partner in Paris, with particular expertise in cross-border acquisition finance and restructuring transactions. He succeeds Simon Bromwich, who [...]
KEEPING THE FIGURES IN THE CHOTE FAMILY March 21, 2012 CHANCELLOR George Osborne makes much of the endorsement given to his Budget by an independent quango he set up to monitor Treasury number fudging, the Office of Budget Responsibility. “These days the direct costing the Treasury applies to every Budget measure is independently assessed and certified by the OBR,” he yesterday declared pointedly to shadow [...]
Compliance isn’t the easy path to fortune March 21, 2012 A RECENT Thomson Reuters survey of 500 compliance officers at financial services firms emphasised two things about the extraordinary growth in the importance of the profession in today’s job market. Firstly, it showed how lucrative compliance roles have become – 70 per cent expected the cost of senior compliance staff to be higher in 2012. [...]
Carrefour closes China store March 19, 2012 EUROPEAN retail giant Carrefour is to temporarily close one of its stores in China, a local government official said yesterday, days after state media said the chain was passing off regular chicken as free-range meat. The closure is the latest case of Chinese officials cracking down on foreign brands and comes after food safety authorities said [...]
Cameron: We need privatised roads March 18, 2012 ROAD PRICING and greater use of toll roads could become a reality as the government seeks to find ways to entice the private sector to invest more in infrastructure. David Cameron will today launch a new study into the financing and ownership of Britain’s roads, arguing the country “urgently” needs “to repair the decades-long degradation [...]
F&C takes hit as outflows reach £7bn March 15, 2012 SHARES in F&C Asset Management sank nearly five per cent yesterday after it posted £7.2bn of net outflows during last year. The fund management firm, which has endured a turbulent 12 months including a boardroom coup and a series of job cuts, saw total assets under management drop 5.4 per cent to £100.1bn after the [...]
It’s not just lawyers who prosper in law March 14, 2012 LAW is bigger business than ever. Freshfields employs 5,000 people and has twenty-seven offices in sixteen countries. Linklaters also has twenty-seven offices in twenty countries. Its revenues in 2010-11 were £1.2bn. Of course, this is good news for lawyers. But non-lawyers work for law firms too. Of Freshfields’ 5,000 staff members, 2,000 are business services [...]
Peak fares set to rise in rail savings plan March 8, 2012 THE RAIL network must cut £3.5bn a year from its spending and overhaul ticket prices, transport secretary Justine Greening said yesterday. Setting out the coalition’s plan to shake up Britain’s trains, Greening said above-inflation fare rises on regulated routes will be abolished. But she said she will look into hiking prices on congested peak journeys [...]
Schroders stock-picker goes March 8, 2012 BLUE-chip money manager Schroders capped one of the more turbulent years in its two-century history with the departure of its chief investment officer. Alan Brown, well-known for his annual Crystal Ball prediction evenings, will step down from his post and from the board, the firm said yesterday, as it reported a near-halving in asset management [...]