Royal Bank of Scotland has today announced a £3.6 billion loss for 2009 which is far less the £5 billion which analysts had been expecting and but a fraction of the £24 billion lost in 2008. While this will be a relief to UK taxpayers, who have an 84% stake in the company, is by no means the end of the troubles for Royal Bank of Scotland and there is still much hard work to be done. The company has also announced a £1.3 billion bonus pool which will be primarily focused upon the company's investment bankers.
The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has this week sent out 10,000 letters to genuine investors whose names appeared on a so-called "boiler room" list. These "boiler room" lists are effectively genuine investor details which have been acquired by rogue share traders with the intention of selling either worthless or non-existent shares using very strong and aggressive sales tactics.
Royal Bank of Scotland has today announced a £1.3 billion bonus pool which will be targeted primarily at the company's 22,000 investment bankers. This comes at the very important time for the UK banking industry when bonuses and remuneration packages are coming under closer and closer scrutiny. UKFI (the association put in place to look after UK tax payer interests) has apparently waved through the £1.3 billion bonus pool although it did manage to negotiate downwards the initial request for a £1.6 billion pot.
Despite the fact that the UK has held sovereignty over the Falkland Islands and its surrounding waters since the mid-1800s, Argentina is again attempting to stake a new claim for sovereignty of the islands and the surrounding waters. This comes at a time when a small band of UK oil explorers have moved into the region with experts predicting that billions of barrels of oil could be discovered under the seabed.
Hedge funds, investment vehicles which can take very large and very controversial investment positions, have found an unexpected supporter today with the Financial Services Authority (FSA) confirming that in its opinion hedge funds do not pose systematic risk to investment markets. The hedge fund industry has become central to EU regulation with Brussels now more determined than ever to grab control of this ever-growing market which has a very large presence in the UK.
Chief executive Eric Daniels has today announced he will turn down a £2.3 million bonus from Lloyds bank. This is the second year in succession that he has refused to take up his bonus entitlement although he is still on a salary of £1 million a year. So why has Eric Daniels turned down this enormous bonus?
In these times of reduced consumer spending it will come as no surprise to find that Primark, the low-cost fashion chain, has reported like-for-like sales up 8% over the Christmas period. Even though there were high hopes for the group, these figures appear to have exceeded management expectations and bode well for the immediate future.
Despite the fact there are worldwide concerns about the merger of Orange and T-Mobile in the UK it is believed that European regulators will this week wave through a deal between the two companies. There have been a number of concerns raised regarding not only the mobile telephone market but also the mobile broadband industry which many believe is set for significant growth in the short, medium and longer term.
It has become apparent that over the last few days the number of short positions in British Airways has increased with the number of shares "on loan" rising from 22.47% to 29.54%. This is effectively investors selling British Airways shares (which they do not own) in the hope that the share price will fall, they will be able to buy back the shares, close their positions and create a profit.
Toyota, currently at the centre of safety issues regarding various vehicles, has announced plans to shut its UK production plant for two weeks next month. This will leave 3,500 workers with time on their hands after the recall of over 8 million vehicles worldwide due to various alleged defects. While the company is trying to play down the two-week closure in the UK it is known that car sales for Toyota have collapsed worldwide due to the string of negative headlines in the media.
