France

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is considering a tax on 2009 banker bonuses exceeding €27,000 ($39,800), following the U.K. government’s introduction of a similar levy, said two French government officials, Bloomberg reported. French banks would pay the charge, though the rate hasn’t been set, said the officials, who declined to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak to the press. Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling said yesterday all banks in the U.K. awarding discretionary bonuses of more than 25,000 pounds ($40,000) must pay a one-time levy of 50 percent.

President Nicolas Sarkozy is to follow Britain’s lead and impose a one-off tax on bonus pay-outs by banks operating in France. The French government intends to include the 50 per cent tax in the budget bill going through parliament. It will be levied on bonuses above €27,000 and will be paid by the banks, bringing Paris in line with London. France and the UK want similar one-off taxes to be adopted across the European Union.

He was a symbol of French fashion, the creator of clothes illuminated by the colours of his native Provence and by his extraordinary artistic talents. But yesterday, the house of Christian Lacroix was reduced to little more than a small trading office as it crumbled under the weight of debts and losses, The Australian reported. After six months in administration amid a desperate search for a saviour, Lacroix was forced to abandon haute couture as the Paris Commercial Court approved a restructuring plan.

Renault SA and other shareholders of troubled Russian car manufacturer Avtovaz said Friday that they have agreed on an overhaul of the company that includes debt restructuring and a new product plan, MarketWatch reported. The memorandum of understanding between the shareholders was signed in Paris on Friday at a ceremony attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, whose presence underscored the political importance of Avtovaz. The shareholders of Avtovaz are the state-controlled corporation Russian Technologies, the Russian bank Troika Dialog and France's Renault.

The Paris Commerce Court has postponed a decision on the future of troubled French fashion house Christian Lacroix to Dec. 1, the administrator for Lacroix said on Tuesday. This was because the main potential buyers for the fashion house, Gulf investor Hassan bin Ali al-Nuaimi, and France's Bernard Krief Consulting, "could not show the documentation certifying the funds needed for the acquisition were available," Regis Valliot said. If by the Dec.

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner clashed over potential taxes on bank transactions at a weekend meeting here of finance policy makers from the Group of 20 leading economies, The Wall Street Journal reported. The U.K.'s Mr. Brown surprised many attendees by throwing his weight behind the idea of levying a tax on financial transactions and using those funds to pay for future bank bailouts. Germany and France reaffirmed their support for such a tax. Mr. Geithner made plain that the U.S. wouldn't support a bank-transaction tax.

France Telecom said on Tuesday it would put off any restructuring of sites or offices in France until the end of the year, meeting a demand from labour unions, Reuters reported. The telecom operator has suffered a series of suicides among its workers that has seen 25 people take their own lives since the beginning of 2008. Labour unions blame ongoing cost-cutting and restructuring for creating poor working conditions that are pushing some workers to the edge.

France is considering levying a new charge on its banks, in the latest effort by a government to recoup money spent over the past year to bail out the financial sector, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the Finance Ministry, the government plans to introduce a fee on banks and insurers registered in France to help pay for the cost of financial supervision. A Finance Ministry spokesman said the amount and form of the new fee hadn't been set.

Argentina, hoping to sell bonds on international markets again, is trying to clean up the fallout from its $100 billion debt default in 2001 and 2002, Reuters reported. In 2005, the government asked investors to accept steep losses on Argentine bonds, a proposal rejected by about a quarter of bondholders. Argentina has not been able to issue debt on global markets since the default, partly because of lawsuits from so-called holdouts who rejected the restructuring.

In the most profound financial change in recent Middle East history, Gulf Arabs are planning – along with China, Russia, Japan and France – to end dollar dealings for oil, moving instead to a basket of currencies including the Japanese yen and Chinese yuan, the euro, gold and a new, unified currency planned for nations in the Gulf Co-operation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar, BusinessWeek reported.