Fund managers head for the courts to cash in on divorces May 28, 2012 INVESTORS looking for the next big opportunity beyond the Brics have been offered a new place to put their money – Britain’s £100m a year divorce industry. Novitas has launched a divorce litigation fund to create an alternative lending source for people who need help to pay for divorce costs. It plans to raise £5m [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING November 16, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES TRIBUNAL HEARS OF UBS EFFORT TO ROOT OUT ROGUES UBS initiated a root-and-branch review of compliance practices in 2007 following unauthorised trading on its UK wealth management division’s Africa desk, a UK tribunal has heard. The revelation of another incident of rogue trading in London came from the barrister for one of the [...]
Allied Irish investors hit May 12, 2011 IRELAND offered junior bondholders in Allied Irish Banks 10 to 25 per cent of the value of their investment, in the first of a series of moves to force investors to share the burden of bailing out local banks. The government is pushing on with a plan to generate around €5bn (£4.4bn) by imposing losses [...]
RBS REPORT: AT A GLANCE December 12, 2011 ● Why publish this report? Last year the FSA caused a public outcry by saying it would take no action against RBS chief executive Fred Goodwin and others despite a 17-month investigation. After pressure from MPs such as Andrew Tyrie, it agreed to produce a full report. ● Cause of RBS’ losses The FSA said [...]
Banks lose payment protection claims challenge April 20, 2011 UK banks face a flood of compensation claims from mis-selling payment protection insurance when approving loans or credit for customers, following a High Court ruling. The High Court dismissed a challenge brought by the British Bankers’ Association against its verdict that new rules banning the sale of payment protection insurance at the point a loan [...]
Spending your money like a sex-crazed ape December 6, 2011 I ONCE saw a documentary about the extraordinary sexual appetite of the bonobo ape. This gave me an idea for an anti-impotence drug. I plan to isolate the genes in bonobos that account for their virility, pack them into some kind of a pill and sell them off by the truckload. The idea is at [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 11, 2011 FINANCIAL TIMES INSURERS TO FUND POLICE TEAM IN FRAUD CRACKDOWN Insurers are to spend £8.2m funding a specialist police unit that will be dedicated to cracking down on the growing problem of insurance fraud, which costs an estimated £2bn a year. A new unit of 35 specialist fraud detectives and police support staff will be [...]
Vincent Tchenguiz selling in St Tropez May 8, 2011 VINCENT Tchenguiz has put his luxury French villa on the market for €30m (£25m) – after spending one night there in five years of ownership. The elder brother of the Iranian-born business partnership has appointed the estate agents Knight Frank to sell the property, Villa Symphonie, in St Tropez A spokesman for Tchenguiz insisted he [...]
Tullow to sue Heritage in UK April 18, 2011 EXPLORER Tullow Oil is suing its former partner in Uganda, Heritage Oil, to recover $313m (£192.7m) that Tullow paid to cover tax on fields it bought from Heritage. Uganda said Heritage was liable for capital gains taxes on the sale, which the Jersey-based company, led by former mercenary boss Tony Buckingham, denies. Tullow paid the [...]
S&P was right to warn the Eurozone December 6, 2011 THERE was anger at Standard and Poor’s, the rating agency, last night, focusing on the timing of its decision to put fifteen Eurozone countries on negative watch. I disagree: for once, the agency demonstrated bravery uncharacteristic of the times we live in. I’m no defender of the rating agencies, who performed appallingly during the bubble [...]