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Latest Business News


  • RBS to pay out £400 million in bonuses despite year loss

    LONDON (Reuters) - State-owned Royal Bank of Scotland is expected to pay out up to 400 million pounds in bonuses to its corporate banking staff as it gets ready to unveil a full-year loss forecast at up to 1.2 billion pounds on Thursday.

  • G20 hopes for progress on EU debt crisis - Carstens

    MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Group of 20 policymakers are hoping for a signal this weekend that Europe will boost crisis funding, smoothing the way for a deal to increase International Monetary Fund resources, the head of Mexico's central bank said on Wednesday.

  • Growth concerns hit stocks, oil at 9-month high

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global stocks slipped and the euro was little changed on Wednesday after data showed the euro zone may be sliding toward recession and China's new export orders shrank in February.

  • G20 plots course on reining in "shadow banks"

    LONDON (Reuters) - Policymakers from the world's top economies meet this weekend in Mexico City to begin finding common ground to tackle the world's economic challenges, which include reining in a $60 trillion financial sector on the fringe of mainstream banking.

  • US home resales at 1-1/2 yr-high, supply falls

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home resales rose to a 1-1/2 year high in January, pushing the supply of properties on the market to the lowest level in almost seven years in a hopeful sign for the housing sector.

  • Analysis - Huge private debts pose bigger hurdle for euro zone

    LONDON (Reuters) - Away from the markets' fixation with the debts of Greece and other governments, concern is growing at the painfully slow progress Europe is making in tackling a much bigger mountain of corporate and household debt.

  • EU banks expert group to consider UK, U.S. curbs

    LONDON (Reuters) - The expert group set up by the European Union's executive to see how banks could be made safer will study whether scale and activity limits planned by Britain and the United States should be applied across the 27-nation bloc.

  • FTSE edges lower led by weak banks, miners

    LONDON (Reuters) - The leading share index edged lower on Wednesday as investors refocused on fundamentals, specifically weaker-than-expected euro zone data, with the Greek debt restructuring theatricals out of the way for now.

  • Swiss demand banks help clean up tax-haven image

    BERNE (Reuters) - Switzerland announced plans on Wednesday to force its secretive banks to do more to make sure foreign clients' money is taxed in an attempt to shake off its image as a haven for untaxed funds as it seeks to end a damaging U.S. tax probe.

  • European shares end lower on weak euro zone data

    LONDON (Reuters) - European shares fell in low-volume on Wednesday for the second consecutive session as euro zone purchasing managers data suggested the region could tip into recession and potentially have a knock on effect to company profits.

  • U.S. existing home sales at 1-1/2 year-high, supply falls

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home resales surged in January to a 1-1/2 year high and the supply of properties on the market was the lowest in almost seven years, pointing to a nascent housing recovery.

  • JPMorgan, Citi, BofA sued for $949 million by Sealink

    NEW YORK (Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and more than a half dozen other major banks are being hit with a new lawsuit over $949 million (605 million pounds) in residential mortgage-backed securities.

  • Insight - Citi, UBS provide keys to interest rate-rigging probe

    (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc <C.N> and UBS AG <UBSN.VX>, in a series of disclosures to law-enforcement officials, have provided crucial information to investigators in multiple countries as part of inquiries into whether the world's biggest banks manipulated a global benchmark interest rate, according to people familiar with the situation.

  • Edinburgh Woollen Mill buys most of Peacocks

    LONDON (Reuters) - Clothing retailer Edinburgh Woollen Mill is to acquire two thirds of discount clothing retailer Peacocks stores, in a deal which will see 6,000 jobs saved, Peacocks' administrators KPMG said on Wednesday.

  • UBS to issue more loss-absorbing capital

    ZURICH/LONDON (Reuters) - UBS might struggle to attract big institutional investors for more loss-absorbing bonds it wants to sell, after investors voiced distaste for the structure and price of an initial $2 billion (1.3 billion pounds) deal announced on Wednesday.

  • Policy pace to settle after Draghi's dramatic start

    FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Two rate cuts, an expected 1 trillion euro stimulus and tentative signs of the euro zone economy stabilising have diminished the chances that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates to a new low.

  • Policy pace to settle after Draghi's dramatic start

    FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Two rate cuts, an expected 1 trillion euro stimulus and tentative signs of the euro zone economy stabilising have diminished the chances that the European Central Bank will cut interest rates to a new low.

  • Citi, UBS provide keys to widening interest

    (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc <C.N> and UBS AG <UBSN.VX>, in a series of disclosures to law-enforcement officials, have provided crucial information to investigators in multiple countries as part of inquiries into whether the world's biggest banks manipulated a global benchmark interest rate, according to people familiar with the situation.

  • U.S. existing home sales at 1-1/2 yr-high, supply falls

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home resales surged in January to a 1-1/2 year high and the supply of properties on the market was the lowest in almost seven years, pointing to a nascent housing recovery.

  • U.S. existing home sales at 1-1/2 year-high, supply falls

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. home resales surged in January to a 1-1/2 year high and the supply of properties on the market was the lowest in almost seven years, pointing to a nascent housing recovery.

  • Insight - Citi, UBS provide keys to interest rate-rigging probe

    (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc <C.N> and UBS AG <UBSN.VX>, in a series of disclosures to law-enforcement officials, have provided crucial information to investigators in multiple countries as part of inquiries into whether the world's biggest banks manipulated a global benchmark interest rate, according to people familiar the situation.

  • Gibraltar to scrap curb on funds to lure customers

    LONDON (Reuters) - Gibraltar will scrap a key curb on its funds industry as the minnow British territory tries to take on Ireland, Luxembourg and rivals further afield to become an international financial services hub.

  • House builder Barratt back in black as focus pays off

    LONDON (Reuters) - House builder Barratt <BDEV.L> returned to profit in the first half, thanks to its focus on higher-margin regions and on houses rather than apartments, and said the positive trend had continued with a jump in sales at the start of this year.

  • Shell to buy Cove Energy for £992.4 million

    LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell Plc <RDSa.L> has made an agreed 992.4 million pound bid for Mozambique-focused Cove Energy <COVE.L>, offering a full price to open up a new gas frontier for the Anglo-Dutch oil major in East Africa.

  • Fitch downgrades Greece on debt swap plan

    ATHENS (Reuters) - Fitch cut Greece's long-term ratings on Wednesday to its lowest rating above a default, becoming the first ratings agency to make the widely expected downgrade after the country announced a bond exchange plan to ease its massive debt burden.

  • UBS plans to issue more loss-absorbing capital

    ZURICH (Reuters) - UBS <UBSN.VX> plans to sell more loss-absorbing bonds to meet tougher bank capital rules after the Swiss bank tested investor appetite for these new instruments with an initial $2 billion (1.3 billion pound) deal last week.

  • Ireland raises asset sales target to 3 billion euros

    DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish government raised its target for the sale of state assets to 3 billion euros (2.5 billion pounds) on Wednesday, unveiling a final list of utilities set to go on the block headed by the energy business of its Bord Gais utility.

  • Banks shell out £1.9 billion for insurance mis-selling

    LONDON (Reuters) - Lenders paid out a record 441 million pounds in compensation for insurance mis-selling in December, taking payouts for 2011 to 1.9 billion pounds and raising the prospect of an even bigger bill this year.

  • Euro zone teetering on brink of recession

    LONDON (Reuters) - The euro zone economy is in danger of tipping into recession, with the services sector shrinking this month along with manufacturing, tempering a wave of optimism after a new bailout deal for Greece struck this week.

  • European shares fall for second day; PSA Peugeot surges

    PARIS (Reuters) - European stocks fell on Wednesday as weaker than expected economic data prompted investors to cash in recent profits, although the rising trendlines of benchmark indexes remained intact.