At a glance: George Osborne’s first comprehensive spending review October 20, 2010 SPENDING FIGURES This fiscal year current expenditure will be £637.3bn. In 2011-12, current spending will be £651.1bn, followed by £664.5bn in 2012-13, £678.6bn in 2013-14 and then £692.7bn in 2014-15. The government will pay £43.3bn of gross government debt interest this fiscal year followed by £46.5bn in 2011-12, £52.4bn in 2012-13, £57.8bn in 2013-14 and [...]
Santander’s UK profits up January 31, 2010 SPANISH banking group Santander is expected to unveil a 27 per cent jump in profits from its British operations this week. Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley will report pre-tax profits of £2.2bn, up from £1.6bn, according to analysts. The overall group is predicted to report a marginal rise in pre-tax profits from [...]
RBS boss Hester to waive £1.6m bonus February 22, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland chief executive Stephen Hester has decided to waive the bumper £1.6m bonus to which he is contractually entitled for this year, amid a fierce torrent of populist anger over remuneration in the banking sector. The news comes after Barclays chief executive John Varley and president Bob Diamond set the bar for [...]
RBS ponders sale of HQ at Gogarburn February 1, 2010 JUST five years after the completion of Gogarburn – Royal Bank of Scotland’s vast headquarters near Edinburgh and the darling of disgraced former chief Sir Fred Goodwin – and the £350m office complex may already be heading for the block. RBS is considering the merits of a sale and leaseback of the property to shore [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING February 4, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES UNION “NOT MILES APART” FROM BA The broad outlines of a settlement in the dispute between British Airways and its cabin crew are emerging in informal talks between the two sides, the Unite union said yesterday. “We’re not miles apart,” said Steve Turner, national officer for aviation at Unite, which represents BA’s 12,000-plus [...]
RBS earmarks £1bn for manufacturers January 14, 2010 ROYAL Bank of Scotland has set aside £1bn in new loans to help fuel a recovery in the UK’s manufacturing industry. The lender said it had “ring-fenced a fund specifically for the manufacturing sector”. The loans, ranging from £250,000 to £25m, will be offered on “competitive fixed rates and with the option to defer repayments [...]
AMBITIOUS SQUARE MILE LADIES APPOINT THEIR NEW AMBASSADOR March 8, 2010 MUCH has been made of the significance of today – International Women’s Day – for ladies in the City, so it seems fitting that the appointment of the latest high-flying president of the City Women’s Network (CWN) has been timed to coincide with the festivities. India Gary-Martin, the new president, is one of the best-known [...]
Crompton heads for the exit after just one year at UKFI January 11, 2010 JOHN Crompton, the investment banker who has been managing the government’s banking assets at UK Financial Investments (UKFI), has quit the Treasury agency. UKFI announced yesterday that Crompton, head of market investments and formerly of Merrill Lynch, had resigned. “We are obviously sad that John has decided to leave but fully understand his decision to [...]
JP Morgan leads in RBS Sempra race January 20, 2010 JPMORGAN Chase is in exclusive talks to buy the RBS Sempra commodities joint venture in a deal expected to be worth about $4bn (£2.5bn). JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Australia’s Macquarie had each submitted offers worth nearly $4bn for the RBS Sempra unit by an early January deadline. JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank were seen as the [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING March 15, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES RBS eyes £10bn debt buy-back as it plans balance sheet shake-up Royal Bank of Scotland is planning a vast balance sheet restructuring in an attempt to boost its capital strength and its standing with bond investors. The move could involve at least £10bn (€11bn) of the bank’s £28bn of debt being bought back [...]