WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING
FINANCIAL TIMES
MANAGERS STRUGGLE TO WOO THE WEALTHY
Private banks across the world are still struggling to attract new clients, as the wealthy continue to shun professional investment managers in the wake of the financial crisis, according to a report published today. New money paid into private banks by clients fell nearly 19 per cent last year, according to a report by Scorpio Partnership.
INSURANCE SHAKE-UP RAISES FEARS ON COMPANY FUNDING
Central bankers have raised concerns that companies will face greater problems raising funds to invest in the real economy in coming years because of regulatory and accounting changes for insurers that may dramatically alter their investment style, a report from the Bank for International Settlements has warned.
TULLET PREBON GETS GO-AHEAD FOR ACQUISITION
Tullet Prebon’s much delayed push into the Brazilian market is set to press ahead after the interdealer broker secured regulatory approval for its acquisition of Sao Paulo’s Convencao Corretora de Valores e Cambio. The sign-off by Dilma Rousseff, Brazil’s president, will allow the deal, worth up to R$50m (£20m) to be completed.
AMAZON SET FOR POLITICAL FIGHT ON CALIFORNIA TAX
Amazon, the world’s biggest online retailer, is set for a political fight in California after it called for a referendum on the state’s controversial move to tax online shopping. The call is likely to sharpen a confrontation between Amazon and bricks-and-mortar rivals including Walmart, Home Depot and Best Buy, which have backed moves to make online retailers collect sales tax from shoppers.
THE TIMES
SOUTHERN CROSS COLLAPSE COSTS TAXMAN AT LEAST £25M
The collapse of Southern Cross is set to leave the taxman more than £25 million out of pocket. The care homes operator, which said this week that it is breaking itself up and returning its homes to its landlords, owes the money in unpaid tax, national insurance and VAT after suspending payments to Revenue and Customs last month.
JAMIE PUTS A LID ON HIS TIME WITH SAINSBURY’S
After 11 lucrative years and more than 100 TV adverts, Jamie Oliver and Sainsbury’s are parting company. The celebrity chef and the supermarket announced the “amicable” split yesterday, saying that both felt it was “time to move on”. The momentum appears to have come from Oliver.
The Daily Telegraph
HOMESERVE UK CHIEF JON FLORSHEIM TO STEP DOWN
HomeServe, the company that offers home emergency repair services and insurance, said its UK chief executive Jon Florsheim is stepping down. Mr Florsheim, who worked as BSkyB’s chief marketing officer before he made the move to HomeServe, will finish in the post next month, the company reported yesterday.
INFLATION FOR PENSIONERS IS 20PC HIGHER
Older people are suffering the fastest rise in living costs – over a fifth higher than the official rate of inflation. Research from Alliance Trust showed that those aged between 64 and 74 were seeing living costs increase at 5.1pc a year, although official figures said that the headline rate of inflation has fallen from 4.6pc to 4.2pc using the official CPI measure.
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
BMW CRANKS UP PROFIT VIEW
German luxury-car maker BMW Tuesday raised its profit and revenue outlooks for 2011. Flat sales at French auto maker Peugeot-Citroën in the first six months, however, illustrate that auto makers with a strong reliance on European markets and less pricing power are feeling the economic heat.
UBS MOVES 50 STAFF TO NEW YORK
UBS has moved 50 members of its equities team to one of its New York City offices from Stamford, Connecticut, as part of a broader plan to relocate a couple hundred employees from the unit to New York, according to a person familiar with the situation. The 50 employees will join the rest of the Swiss bank’s Americas equity-capital-markets business in its 1285 Avenue of the Americas office.