International
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Britain ‘likely to lose’ AAA if debt plans slip
Britain is likely to lose its triple-A status if its plans to cuts its debts falter, while weak growth would put downward pressure on top-rated Netherlands, rating firm Fitch said yesterday. “For the UK, we forecast debt/GDP to peak at 97 per cent...
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UBS fined $1.5 billion in growing Libor scandal
Swiss bank UBS admitted fraud and accepted a $1.5 billion fine yesterday for its role in manipulating global benchmark interest rates. Dozens of UBS staff rigged the Libor rate, which is used to price trillions of dollars worth of loans, in...
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BoE spells out Carney’s governor package
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney will get a £250,000 annual housing allowance when he starts as Governor of the Bank of England next year, on top of a salary of £624,000, the BoE said yesterday. The payments to the former Goldman Sachs investment...
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Asmussen opposes ECB bond buys if conditions not met
European Central Bank policymaker Joerg Asmussen said he would want the ECB to stop buying sovereign bonds if its new purchasing programme was activated and the country concerned did not stick to the conditions attached. Spain is the country most...
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Toronto sees 147 skyscrapers under construction
A construction worker looks out over the city atop the ICE Condominiums development site by Cadillac Fairview and Lanterra Developments in Toronto yesterday. More skyscrapers – 147 of them – are being built in Toronto than anywhere in North America,...
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Germany backs paying out next Greek aid tranche – letter
The German Government is in favour of paying out the next tranche of international aid to Greece after a successful debt buyback programme by Athens, Germany’s finance ministry said in a letter seen by Reuters yesterday. The letter to the Bundestag...
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Carney carries Canadian lessons to the Bank of England
The Bank of Canada’s Mark Carney mused about priorities in reply to a question about the lessons he would take to his next job in London, but said he would only discuss Britain’s needs when he talks to a House of Commons committee next year. Asked...
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Russia to ‘get tough’ on corruption, capital flight
Russian authorities will crack down on corruption and the flight of capital from the country, President Vladimir Putin said yesterday. In his first state-of-the-nation address since he started a six-year third term in May, Putin drew applause from...
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Prosecutors raid Deutsche Bank HQ as carbon probe widens
State prosecutors searched offices of Germany’s biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, yesterday in a widening probe linked to a tax evasion scheme involving the trading of carbon permits. Frankfurt public prosecutors said they were investigating suspicions...
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Spain’s justice workers take to the streets
Justice workers shout slogans in defence of the Spanish public justice system and against the raise of court and registry fees in front of Madrid’s main court yesterday.
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Zara owner Inditex continues on profits path
A man walks past a Zara store in Madrid yesterday as Zara owner Inditex shrugged off sluggish spending in austerity-wracked Europe, posting a 27 per cent rise in nine-month net profit to €1.65 billion, driven by a nimble production model and...
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Ireland to test economy, public patience with Budget
The Irish Government will test the economy and the public’s patience with another €3.5 billion dose of austerity yesterday, though better service sector and jobless data will help soften the blow. Bailed-out Ireland has begun its return to bond...
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Record €1.47 bn fine for Philips, LG and Samsung
The European Commission imposed the biggest antitrust penalty in its history yesterday, fining six firms including Philips, LG Electronics and Samsung SDI a total €1.47 billion for running two cartels for nearly a decade. The Commission said...
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HSBC names new private banking chief
Europe’s biggest bank HSBC has named a new chief executive for its private banking arm to take over from Krishna Patel who is resigning from the role he has had since September 2011. Peter Boyles, the bank’s chief executive officer for Continental...
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Praying for progress in Spain
A trader reacts during a Spanish bond auction in Madrid yesterday as Spain fell short of its targeted amount at a triple bond auction, prompting a rise in yields on the secondary market as investors await the Government’s move to trigger European...
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UK inquiry to question ex-HBOS chief executives
Two former chief executives of HBOS will appear on Monday before British lawmakers conducting an inquiry into the bank’s near collapse in 2008, as part of a wider review of banking standards. HBOS had to be rescued in 2008 through a...
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Court postpones ruling on Strauss-Kahn sex inquiry
A French court yesterday postponed a decision on requests that it call off a sex offence inquiry where former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn risks trial on a charge of “aggravated pimping”. The court in Douai, a town north of Paris, had been...
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Protests rage over fire in Bangladesh garment factory, supervisors arrested
Three supervisors of a Bangladeshi garments factory were arrested yesterday as protests over a fire that killed more than 100 people raged on into a third day, with textile workers and police clashing in the streets of a Dhaka suburb. The Government...
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Shares in mobile operator MegaFon fall on debut
Shares in MegaFon fell two per cent on their market debut yesterday, following a bumpy ride for the IPO and showing limited demand among investors for another Russian mobile issue. Russia’s second-biggest mobile phone operator had priced its London...
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Arcelor Mittal scrambles before talks deadline
Arcelor Mittal workers from Florange site stand next to French riot police officers as they demonstrate in front the National Assembly in Paris yesterday. Arcelor Mittal, which employs some 20,000 people in France, seeks solutions to avoid shutting...
