The pain among energy and mining producers is growing more acute as prices of global commodities continued their collapse on Tuesday, the International New York Times reported. The newest victim is the London-based mining firm Anglo American. On Tuesday, the company announced a drastic restructuring, which includes expanding job cuts, suspending its dividend, reducing its business unit and cutting its assets. Anglo American is far from alone, as scores of oil, natural gas, and mining companies are feeling the pain from low prices.
Read more
Lotus have won another two-week breathing space in insolvency proceedings brought against the Formula One team by the taxman, RTÉ reported. Mr Justice Birss granted the adjournment until December 21 after hearing that a share purchase agreement was due to be completed on December 16, with the £1.4million due to HM Revenue & Customs paid off shortly afterwards. Other creditors, owed in excess of £2million, would be paid by December 31, counsel Jeremy Bamford told London's High Court on Monday.
Read more
The Bank of England drew a line under the era of bank-bashing on Tuesday, saying it had no desire for new capital buffers and would seek to use its powers to strengthen lenders in good times rather than to tame the credit cycle, the Financial Times reported. The move reflected the government’s post-election shift away from the post-financial crisis emphasis on tighter regulation towards a more emollient stance on the City.
Read more
For the past month, the Bank of England has been telling us ultra-low interest rates should be combined with measures to hold back the growth of consumer credit. On Tuesday, it will reveal whether action will follow the warnings, when it publishes the results of its annual stress tests for banks and its latest financial stability report, the Financial Times reported.
Read more
Britain's financial watchdog has fined Barclays 72 million pounds ($109 million) for cutting corners in vetting wealthy customers in order to win a huge transaction described by one senior manager as potentially the "deal of the century," the International New York Times reported. Barclays arranged the 1.9 billion pound transaction in 2011 and 2012 for a number of rich clients deemed by the regulator to be politically exposed persons (PEPs), or people holding prominent positions that could be open to financial abuse.
Read more
British regulators will consider barring up to 10 executives linked to the 2008 collapse of the country's biggest mortgage lender, HBOS, some of whom still hold senior business roles, Reuters reported. The Bank of England and the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) long-delayed report into HBOS was published on Thursday and blamed the HBOS management for its failure and criticised the previous regulator, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
Read more
The British government announced Tuesday a deal that would see London hand over an unprecedented array of powers—including around planning, transport and employment—to a local government encompassing Liverpool and five surrounding municipalities, The Wall Street Journal reported. The British government also said it would provide £900 million ($1.4 billion) for local investment over 30 years, which will be used to turn Liverpool’s recently revamped port into a hub for trade from the expansion of the Panama Canal, set to finish next year.
Read more
There were almost seven insolvencies - and two bankruptcies - a day in Northern Ireland between July and September this year, it can be revealed today. And almost a third of all individual insolvencies ended in bankruptcy in the third quarter of 2015. The new figures, obtained by the Belfast Telegraph, actually show a decrease in the number of people and businesses going to the wall from the worst days of the recession, but shine a light on the sluggish rate of Northern Ireland's economic recovery.
Read more
Of the UK’s 5,500 care home operators, the risk management group estimates that as many as 1,650 companies are struggling financially, and of those it expects a quarter, which account for 1,500 sites, to fall into insolvency, Express.co.uk reported. Many groups in the sector are struggling to meet the interest payments on their debts, because of rising staff costs and local authorities cutting fees in response to Whitehall demands for savings.
Read more
Mark Carney said the Bank of England would consider making it harder for lenders to extend credit, in order to prevent a recovery fuelled by historically low interest rates from becoming dangerously unbalanced, the Financial Times reported. With the BoE joining other leading central banks in taking a more dovish approach to monetary policy, the governor’s words showed he recognised the potentially damaging side effects of a long period of extremely low borrowing costs.
Read more