East India Company: The original City firm judged too big for failure December 16, 2012 FOR an institution that’s been defunct for over 150 years, the East India Company still evokes powerful reactions. This year in India, a move to liberalise the retail sector to allow investment by foreign multinationals was greeted with protests: “this is the return of the East India Company”. Meanwhile in the UK, Sanjiv Mehta has [...]
EU power grab with new global transactions tax February 14, 2013 THE CITY was shocked yesterday by a surprise extension of the planned EU financial transactions tax (FTT) as the 11 countries implementing the charge launched plans to levy the tax across the whole world. Under the scheme trades of shares, bonds or derivatives will be taxed regardless of where the transaction takes place as long [...]
Megafon drafts in Lord Myners to bolster its UK flotation plans November 18, 2012 MEGAFON, the Russian telecoms group controlled by Arsenal shareholder Alisher Usmanov, yesterday bolstered its corporate governance ahead of a London flotation with the appointment of former City minister Paul Myners as an independent director. The appointment of such a well regarded City figure, who was chief executive of Gartmore Group and chairman of Marks and [...]
Business warns of threat to the capital from tax and caps December 10, 2012 TAX RATES, immigration caps and hand-wringing over airport capacity are causing London to suffer in a global race for competitiveness, according to the latest studies of financial centres around the world. A report from business group London First, seen by City A.M., shows that while the UK’s capital remains one of the world’s most attractive [...]
Troubled Bumi Indonesian arm in $600m loss January 3, 2013 BUMI co-founder Nat Rothschild yesterday slammed the results of estranged Indonesian arm Bumi Resources as “not credible”, after it plunged to a $632m (£391m) loss over the nine months to September. Over the same period last year, the miner booked a net profit of $176m. The Indonesian coal miner, which has been at the heart [...]
Keep the royal flag flying high May 29, 2012 The City of London Corporation is giving away 250 Union Jack flags to wave from office windows as the Queen visits the City next Tuesday as part of the Jubilee celebrations. Businesses interested in getting hold of the 1.5 by one metre polyester flags need to email TC-PublicRelationsAdmin@cityoflondon. gov.uk, specifying their address. “We’re asking them [...]
Bumi chief plots turnaround December 18, 2012 We have not earned the respect of our shareholders… We have been a source of massive value leakage” IT IS just 24 hours since Nick Von Schirnding was appointed chief executive of troubled coal miner Bumi, and he’s rattling around in a bare Belgravia office. The rest of the Bumi team has headed to local [...]
Brazilian bank expands work force in London November 26, 2012 ITAU BBA, the finance arm of Brazil’s biggest bank Itau Interbanco, is relocating its wholesale operations to London, taking advantage of the relative weakness of UK and EU banks which are shrinking much of their operations. The bank is relocating its wholesale arm’s headquarters to its City offices, according to a note sent to clients [...]
Figures to show the state of the UK economy as Davos meeting begins January 20, 2013 FIGURES this week from the Office for National Statistics will reveal whether the UK economy shrank in the fourth quarter of 2012 and over the year as a whole. “We expect the economy to have contracted by 0.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of last year which would limit year-on-year growth to 0.2 [...]
Rapid responses December 12, 2012 Urban renewal [Re: Decline in homeownership is the result of bonkers red tape, yesterday] Unfortunately, the housing shortage is London is not just an issue of “idiotic planning rules” but a fundamental unwillingness to allow the city to expand physically. The debate has artificially divided into supporters of the green belt and those who want [...]