WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 3, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES BARCLAYS OFFLOADS LOANS IN STRUGGLING CONNAUGHT Lenders to Connaught have started selling their loans to the company, in a sign of their concern about the state of the embattled social housing maintenance group. Barclays, one of Connaught’s syndicate of banks, which is led by Royal Bank of Scotland, on Monday night sold its [...]
WHAT DOES THE CHANCELLOR’S BUDGET MEAN FOR YOU? June 22, 2010 KATE SOLWAY, 30 FUNDS CONTROLLER AT PRIVATE EQUITY FIRM COGNETAS Kate is single and lives in rented accommodation. She also owns two investment properties – one a London flat with a mortgage which she rents out, and the other a holiday home under construction in west Africa’s Cape Verde, on which she does not have [...]
Blackstone to launch a bank January 20, 2010 A NEW retail bank to be backed by US private equity group Blackstone is set to go up against Virgin Money and analyst Sandy Chen’s Walton & Co bank later this year in the race to snap up the assets of Northern Rock, RBS and Lloyds Banking Group. Blackstone has applied to the Financial Services [...]
FSA lists new retail adviser standards June 28, 2010 THE FINANCIAL Services Authority (FSA) has finalised a list of requirements retail investment advisers will need to meet before they can operate under the new Retail Distribution Review (RDR). Within the next three years, the FSA has proposed that investment advisers will have to hold a statement of professional standing, which confirms that the adviser [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING August 18, 2010 FINANCIAL TIMES EXXON ABANDONS ITS $4BN BID FOR GHANA OIL STAKE Following months of battle with Accra, ExxonMobil, the world’s biggest western oil company, has given up trying to acquire a share of Ghana’s giant Jubilee oil field from Kosmos, the American oil company. The $4bn deal was heavily opposed by Ghana’s government and its [...]
IFS: coalition could avoid a VAT increase June 14, 2010 THE government could bring the deficit under control without raising VAT, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). But a Lib Dem pledge to lower income tax thresholds coupled with Tory promises to ring-fence spending on health and overseas aid means the coalition will probably have to hike taxes. Responding to the Office for [...]
IFS: coalition could avoid a VAT increase June 14, 2010 THE government could bring the deficit under control without raising VAT, according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS). But a Lib Dem pledge to lower income tax thresholds coupled with Tory promises to ring-fence spending on health and overseas aid means the coalition will probably have to hike taxes. Responding to the Office for [...]
Merger mania grips the City July 21, 2010 A SUMMER flurry of corporate activity gathered pace yesterday as SSL, the maker of Durex condoms, agreed a £2.5bn takeover offer from Reckitt Benckiser, and the owners of United Biscuits put the firm up for sale. Shares in SSL soared 33.5 per cent to £11.77 after the board recommended the FTSE 100 household goods company’s [...]
Kerviel was a zombie, court hears June 17, 2010 Ex-Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel was an overworked “zombie” trader whose risky bets were symptomatic of the bank’s faulty control system, two French academics said at his trial yesterday. Kerviel, blamed by SocGen for a €4.9bn (£4bn) trading loss in 2008, never took holidays and worked long hours, an industry problem according to Jean-Hubert Blanchet, [...]
Kerviel was a zombie, court hears June 17, 2010 Ex-Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel was an overworked “zombie” trader whose risky bets were symptomatic of the bank’s faulty control system, two French academics said at his trial yesterday. Kerviel, blamed by SocGen for a €4.9bn (£4bn) trading loss in 2008, never took holidays and worked long hours, an industry problem according to Jean-Hubert Blanchet, [...]