SKY NEWS BITES THE HAND THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE FEEDING IT January 24, 2011 SOME puzzling editorial choices have been afoot at Sky News this week. On Sunday, Gordon Brown’s disclosure that he asked the police to look into whether his phone was hacked by the News of the World topped its agenda all day. And yesterday the attack of foot-in-mouth disease that afflicted Sky Sports’ Andy Gray and [...]
Memo to Osborne: don’t tax the City too much February 23, 2011 JEAN Baptiste Colbert, King Louis IVth’s legendary finance minister, didn’t mess about. To uphold standards in the cloth industry, he issued an edict that any merchant found peddling dodgy material three times would be tied up in public with the offending produce. Like George Osborne, Colbert inherited a fiscal catastrophe, and attempted Herculean feats to [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 4, 2011 PricewaterhouseCoopers PwC has appointed a new technology leader in the UK: Jass Sarai. He will be replacing Barry Murphy, who has been the company’s technology leader in Britain for the last two years. Sarai has worked on the technology sector for the last decade, having joined PwC straight from university, and will now be responsible [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS January 27, 2011 Shire Global speciality biopharmaceutical company Shire has hired Emmanuel Chantelot, former executive director of the European Biopharmaceutical Enterprises (EBE), as director of European government relations and public policy. Chantelot brings 18 years of experience in policy advocacy, strategic communications and business interest representation towards the EU Institutions, global agencies and national governments. JP Morgan John [...]
IG in talks to sell sports division December 19, 2010 Spread betting company IG Group is reportedly in talks with bookmaker Star Sports to sell Extrabet, its sports gambling division. IG hired financial advisory firm PwC during the summer to help dispose of Extrabet, though it is unclear whether there are rival potential buyers involved in talks. Sports bets make up just two per cent [...]
IG in talks to sell sports division December 19, 2010 Spread betting company IG Group is reportedly in talks with bookmaker Star Sports to sell Extrabet, its sports gambling division. IG hired financial advisory firm PwC during the summer to help dispose of Extrabet, though it is unclear whether there are rival potential buyers involved in talks. Sports bets make up just two per cent [...]
The man who’s locking horns with indecisive EU regulators April 17, 2011 MENTION Brussels to any senior London-based insurer and you will always get the same reaction: anger and exasperation. With just over 18 months to go before the introduction of Solvency II, the insurance industry’s equivalent of the new Basel III banking rules, European regulators have still not produced a framework that properly reflects the business [...]
City backlash against ECJ insurance rule March 1, 2011 MOTOR insurers and annuity providers attacked a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling that banned insurers from using gender to calculate policy prices yesterday. The ruling will mean women no longer pay lower car insurance premiums than men despite male drivers under 21 being twice as likely as young women to have a crash. Annuity [...]
PwC asks Cable for rules clarity June 6, 2010 PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS’ (PwC’S) chairman Ian Powell has urged business secretary Vince Cable to clarify ground rules for auditors as fears escalated over a potential competition inquiry into the “Big Four” firms. In an interview with the FT, Powell said PwC would like to work with Cable to know what the ground rules are around audit reporting [...]
Hammerson in exclusive talks to buy British malls worth £400m December 16, 2010 PROPERTY firm Hammerson has entered exclusive talks to buy six shopping centres worth around £400m from Kuwaiti property company St Martins, a source familiar with the deal said yesterday. Retail-focused Hammerson is the preferred bidder for malls including Centrale in Croydon and West 45 in Hammersmith, as well as several retail parks that includes Riverside [...]