Greek crisis: IMF negotiating team gives up and goes home June 11, 2015 The International Monetary Fund (IMF) team responsible for negotiating a deal with leaders from Greece to unlock funds which will prevent it from defaulting are heading back to Washington, the organisation said today. In a statement released this afternoon, it said the team had left Brussels after "failing to make progress on a debt deal [...]
Messi facing day in court on £3m tax bill charge June 10, 2015 BARCELONA superstar Lionel Messi is on course to stand trial in Spain over allegations that he avoided paying €4.2m (£3m) in tax on a string of lucrative endorsements. Messi, 27, and his father Jorge are accused of using companies registered in Belize and Uruguay to circumvent tax on image rights earnings between 2006 and 2009. [...]
Bank of England Fair and Effective Markets Review: Tens of thousands more City workers to be covered by the senior managers regime June 10, 2015 The Bank of England (BoE) today unveiled a set of tough new market rules which will increase individual responsibility among banks' senior managers and lengthen jail sentences for market abuse. Read more: Why the financial system has the same qualities as cancer Recommendations from The Fair and Effective Markets Review include extending the senior managers regime [...]
Wimbledon set to serve up aces June 9, 2015 WASH your whites and let out your waistbands; Wimbledon 2015 is just over three weeks away. Fans are gearing up for the party of the year and to cheer dour Brit Andy Murray to victory. Wimbledon is the largest annual sporting catering operation in Europe. Whether you’re just coming for the finals or staying for [...]
Deutsche Bank bosses Anshu Jain and Jurgen Fitschen bow to pressure and quit June 7, 2015 Deutsche’s co-chief executives quit the global banking giant yesterday, bowing to mounting legal wranglings and shareholder pressure. Indian-born Anshu Jain, 52, will step down at the end of this month and co-chief executive Jurgen Fitschen, 66, will leave next May. British banker John Cryan, former UBS finance chief and current Deutsche board member, will become [...]
Lloyds to appeal against loss in £1bn bond buy back court case June 3, 2015 Lloyds Bank yesterday failed in its bid to buy back high-yielding bonds from retail investors, after a high court judge said it had not met the conditions for an exchange. The enhanced capital notes (ECNs) are designed to bolster the bank’s capital buffers, and were issued shortly after the lender was bailed out by the [...]
Contrarians are vital for a healthy democracy: We must celebrate them June 2, 2015 You're dealing with a lot of silly people in the marketplace; it’s like a great big casino and everyone else is boozing. If you can stick with Pepsi, you should be ok.” Apart from the fact that I prefer Diet Coke, this advice from Warren Buffett, one of the greatest contrarian investors of our time, [...]
Federer targets Wimbledon title after French blip June 2, 2015 WORLD No2 Roger Federer immediately switched his focus to securing an eighth Wimbledon title after crashing out of the French Open at the quarter-final stage yesterday. Second seed Federer, who won at Roland Garros in 2009, slumped to a straight-sets 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) defeat to compatriot and Davis Cup team-mate Stan Wawrinka in an [...]
Fifa corruption: What businesses can learn about the need for cultural change, rather than blaming individuals June 1, 2015 Whenever a large organisation gets into public trouble, the search for a scapegoat begins and the organisations are often relived to serve one up. Institutional illegality is all very well, but it does not appear to be interesting until we can put a face to the crime and a name to the nastiness. After [...]
Eight men convicted over “very substantial” fraud after huge FCA investigation Operation Cotton June 1, 2015 Eight men have been convicted for their role in running a scam fund in which 110 investors lost more than £4.3m between them. The men operated three property investment companies through which investors were pressured into buying land “at a vastly inflated price, on the false promise of a substantial profit”. The salesmen lied [...]