PROFILE: JONATHAN SORRELL June 18, 2012 AS yet it is unclear whether a 34-year old who enjoyed the best of the City’s booming noughties is best placed to help dig out Man Group from a large-scale crisis. But Jonathan Sorrell certainly has pedigree. Son of Sir Martin, the head of advertising group WPP, he studied law at Cambridge, from 1995 to [...]
Shareholders are accountable for executives’ pay January 15, 2012 BONUS season is always a potentially politically explosive time and this year is unlikely to prove any different. Total bonus payouts across the City are expected to fall steeply this year from £6.7bn in 2010/11 to £4.2bn (roughly a third of the £11.6bn peak before the crisis) but – understandably – this will not prevent [...]
Osborne eyes change of strategy to boost liquidity June 13, 2012 GEORGE Osborne is expected to use tonight’s Mansion House speech to reveal a new strategy aimed at boosting liquidity in the banking system. The chancellor’s attempt to ease the credit logjam comes as both companies and households continue to struggle to access finance. The move follows Bank of England deputy governor Paul Tucker’s acknowledgement on [...]
Occupy London ‘repossesses’ bank building November 18, 2011 The anti-capitalist group Occupy London expanded its occupation of the city last night when a dozen protesters took over an empty UBS bank building in Hackney. The group, which is fighting for social and economic justice, is claiming legal rights to the office space since it has not been in use for several years, said [...]
We need to rebalance the anti-City rhetoric January 29, 2012 FIGURES published by the Office for National Statistics this week showed that over the last quarter manufacturing output shrank by 0.9 per cent, returning the total back to the level we saw in the same quarter two years ago. This is despite a substantial devaluation of sterling against the currencies of our major trading partners. [...]
Stelios takes a stake in African low-cost airline June 13, 2012 EASYJET founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou’s bid to launch a low-cost airline in Africa took a step forward yesterday as his cash shell partner bought regional carrier Fly540. Rubicon, the investment vehicle that started life as a software company, paid $85.7m (£55m) to take over Fly540 from Lonrho, the London-listed African conglomerate that spent six years [...]
INNOVATION OF THE YEAR August 1, 2012 City A.M.’s Innovation of the Year category seeks out businesses that are frontrunners in their field, whether finance, marketing or product development. Our shortlist includes green technology, new media, manufacturing, a finance provider and a new approach to financial restructuring. The winner will need to show a genuinely innovative approach and demonstrate significant milestones achieved [...]
Ex-Mitsui man banned by FSA May 8, 2012 CITY watchdog the FSA yesterday fined the European arm of one of Japan’s biggest insurers £3.3m for serious corporate governance failings. The former executive chairman, Yohichi Kumagai, who ran Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance’s London arm, was also banned from working in the City of London and personally fined £119,303. The company breached three of the watchdog’s [...]
Ex-Mitsui man banned by FSA May 8, 2012 CITY watchdog the FSA yesterday fined the European arm of one of Japan’s biggest insurers £3.3m for serious corporate governance failings. The former executive chairman, Yohichi Kumagai, who ran Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance’s London arm, was also banned from working in the City of London and personally fined £119,303. The company breached three of the watchdog’s [...]
Next governor of the Bank must not be paid for failure July 19, 2012 IN 2008, an elderly lady asked a killer question about the credit crunch which left the so-called economic experts red-faced. During a briefing by academics at the London School of Economics on chaos in the international markets, the Queen asked: “Why did nobody notice it?” Another Old Lady – she of Threadneedle Street – had [...]