Patron saint of retailers says co-ops won’t work for everyone January 29, 2012 RESPONSIBLE Capitalism. Moral Markets. Whatever you call it, the debate raging around executive pay and “predator” business shows no sign of dying down. All political parties have tried to claim the issue as their own, but they have struggled to articulate what a fairer form of capitalism might look like. Enter John Lewis, the patron [...]
Lloyds slashes price of Verde branch sell-off June 24, 2012 THE Co-operative group has moved closer to sealing a deal for 632 Lloyds branches after the taxpayer-backed bank slashed its selling price. Lloyds is thought to be willing to cut the price by up to half of the £1.5bn to £2bn expected as bank values plunge. Hopes of floating the Project Verde branches appear to [...]
72-year-old Walker set to chair Barclays August 9, 2012 BARCLAYS has chosen veteran Sir David Walker as its non-executive chairman, replacing Marcus Agius as it picks up the pieces from the Libor-rigging scandal. Sir David, 72, is a fixture in the British banking establishment, having led a 2009 government inquiry into banking regulation. He also spent part of his 50-year career at the Bank [...]
NEWS CORP INVESTORS CALL FOR NEW CHAIR July 18, 2012 EIGHTEEN investors including Aviva, F&C and the Co-op have urged News Corp to hire an independent chairman and split the role of Rupert Murdoch, who is currently both chairman and chief executive. The institutions said in an open letter to the board that the firm is “in need of independent leadership” in the wake of [...]
Co-op buys David Sands shops after strong trading January 10, 2012 SUPERMARKET chain the Co-operative Group reported strong trading figures for the four weeks to 31 December yesterday, as it announced it had bought 28 convenience stores in Scotland from the David Sands group. Co-op, run by chief executive Peter Marks, has previously said it wants to increase the number of stores it runs across Britain [...]
Co-op buys David Sands shops after strong trading January 10, 2012 SUPERMARKET chain the Co-operative Group reported strong trading figures for the four weeks to 31 December yesterday, as it announced it had bought 28 convenience stores in Scotland from the David Sands group. Co-op, run by chief executive Peter Marks, has previously said it wants to increase the number of stores it runs across Britain [...]
S&P cuts Co-Op outlook December 22, 2011 Credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s cut its outlook on mutually-owned conglomerate The Co-Operative Group to “negative” from “stable,” due to risks associated with the Co-Op’s planned purchase of some 630 Lloyds bank branches. Earlier this month, Lloyds said it had picked The Co-Op as its preferred bidder for 632 branches which it has been [...]
SME mis-selling probe spreads to more banks July 23, 2012 SEVEN more banks will review their sales of hedging products to small companies, the Financial Services Authority announced yesterday, joining the four major institutions which have already pledged to compensate customers for any mis-selling. Around 28,000 interest rate hedging products were sold from 2001 to date, with the latest seven banks representing around 10 per [...]
Lingering worries for a deal in a hurry July 19, 2012 PETER Marks, group chief executive of the Co-operative Group, said in March that there were “very material regulatory issues” holding back its purchase of branches from Lloyds Banking Group. Yesterday’s non-binding announcement of terms for the deal suggests both sides are confident the FSA won’t now stand in their way. But have the issues really [...]
New lending plan gets off to a shaky start August 1, 2012 THE GOVERNMENT’S latest plan to give banks cheap funds in an effort to boost lending to firms and households received a cautious welcome from banks when it opened yesterday. Majority taxpayer-owned RBS accessed the “Funding for Lending” scheme (FLS) immediately, and cut mortgage and corporate loan interest rates by up to 1.6 percentage points. Lloyds, [...]