• ECB warns of ‘hazardous contagion’ from debt crisis• Spain to push for labour reforms despite union opposition
The European Central Bank warned today that eurozone banks face a “second wave” of up to €195bn (£165bn) in potential loan losses this year and next and that the financial sector is facing “hazardous contagion” from the [...]
• Prudential and AIG in talks over cost of new deal• US government may be willing to allow AIG to lower price
Prudential’s embattled chief executive Tidjane Thiam will hold crunch talks with UK-based shareholders tomorrow as the insurer’s audacious $35.5bn (£24.4bn) takeover of AIG’s Asian life insurance arm hangs by a thread.
The Pru’s advisers [...]
• Report highlights widespread failings at Europe’s biggest atomic site• Safety watchdog closes one plant and takes legal action against site’s operators
The government’s safety watchdog is cracking down on Britain’s biggest and oldest nuclear complex after a series of radioactive leaks and safety blunders, despite private sector managers receiving multimillion-pound “performance-related” payments from the [...]
• Manufacturing helps drive quarterly growth to 8.6%• Concerns remain over drought and European debt crisis
India has returned to the rapid economic growth rates it enjoyed before the global economic crisis struck, according to official data published today.
A rebound in manufacturing drove India’s quarterly economic growth to 8.6%, the fastest rate in the developing nation [...]
• Train operators to meet transport secretary this week• Department for Transport asked to reduce budget by £683m
Cutting costs and reducing the multibillion pound government subsidy for the rail industry are expected to feature high on the agenda this week as train operators meet the new secretary of state for transport, Philip Hammond.
The Department for [...]
• Markets set to fall after ratings agency Fitch strips Spain of AAA score• French debt rating also threatened, says budget minister François Baroin
The euro is expected to come under further pressure tomorrow as Spain’s minority government teeters on the brink of collapse and traders fear contagion throughout the eurozone after a senior French minister [...]
City law firm Wedlake Bell finds 53% of mergers and acquisitions targeting UK-listed companies in the first quarter of this year were backed by overseas bidders
Almost half of all UK-listed companies targeted in takeover bids in the past two years have been bought by overseas buyers, fuelling the debate over foreign ownership of British [...]
• Financial Services Authority threatens to step in to ensure client funds are kept separate• Concern over handling of assets first surfaced after Lehman Brothers’ collapse
City firms are being warned by the Financial Services Authority that they face fines and public reprimands unless they comply with its request to name the individuals responsible for ensuring [...]
BCC sees problems ahead if eurozone crisis worsens and says government should delay further fiscal tightening until recovery secure
The UK’s economic recovery remains fragile and could be undermined by the worsening eurozone debt crisis and upheavals in global financial markets, it was warned today.
The British Chambers of Commerce, in its latest snapshot of the economy, [...]
As it struggles with a major leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil company is accused of deliberate recklessness over a spill on Alaska
The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which could see BP face hundreds of lawsuits, is giving new impetus to a highly damaging legal case stemming from a previous environmental disaster in [...]
