Public Pressure made Goldman Sachs ditch bonus plans

Chief executive of Goldman Sachs’, Lloyd Blankfein has publicly admitted that the reason behind the bank’s decision to drop its plan to save its British employees millions of pounds in bonuses through tax avoidance schemes was due to media pressure and outrage.

Tax Fraud at an All Time High

Tax Fraud is now at an all-time high following the start of the recession.  The Vat gap is believed to be around £3.3bn and is being blamed on the HMRC being under-resourced according to BDO’s FraudTrack report.

Nissan to invest £250m in Sunderland

Japanese car giant Nissan has released a statement announcing their intentions to invest £250m in a factory in Sunderland, promising to create "hundreds of jobs" in the area.

Renewable Energy - The future?

It has been said that the energy debate in Government threatens to tear the coalition apart and that the World Bank has been issuing grave concerns over climate change and coal crunching energy providers. Renewable energy is getting more and more popular these days with both domestic and corporate entities opting in. There seems to be, however, a group of billionaire boys club members who are aggressively taking on the Renewable Energy sector.

Opus Energy award £25,000 to Novice Hurdle Winner

Opus Energy, the UK's leader in business energy, sent out a press release this week congratulating a trio of horse whisperers for winning at their Grade 2 Opus Energy Novice Hurdle. Paul Nicholls, who trained the winning steed Dodging Bullets, the rider Ruby Walsh and its breeder Frankie Dettori were all beaming with joy at their success.

Ex Boss of Kettle Chips repays Bonus

Michael Mendes, suspended in February as chief executive of Diamond Foods, has agreed to repay two years’ worth of bonuses after an accounting scandal was exposed.

An investigation discovered a number of irregularities that cause the firm to restate its 2010 & 2011 finances.

Mendes left the firm with no severance pay and will be paying back $2.7m of bonuses and 6,665 of company shares.

TopShop Tycoon says “Stop Moaning”

Sir Phillip Green, owner of the High Street giant Arcadia Group, has spoken out against fellow UK retailers urging them to stop their moaning about the local economic climate and to just get on with it. After Arcadia reported flat sales for last year, Green said

Spare cash? Invest Abroad!

It seems that investing in emerging markets is the way to go. With an average of 6% a year income in regards to bonds it is no wonder that many investors are looking overseas.

IOUs provided by companies and Governments are proving to be popular in countries such as the Ivory Coast, Venezuela and Serbia, as they pay out an income until they are cashed in.

Opus Energy Have a Fantastic 10th Anniversary

Charlie Crossley-Cooke, Managing Director of Opus Energy

At Business Online we have followed the growth of Opus Energy fairly closely. We have written articles about who they are and what they do and all of their accomplishments. 18 months ago we told you about their success on The Sunday Times Top Track 250 and their announcement of 100 new jobs.

Well it looks like there’s more news to come. In this year’s Top Track 250, Opus Energy has managed to beat their last placement and have made position 129 on the list. They attribute this to a 38% growth in their revenue over the 2011/12 year, as well as the 100 new jobs created last year.

Five Million Paid Less Than Living Wage

A KPMG-commissioned study has found that almost five million of staff throughout the UK and Northern Ireland are paid less than the recommended living wage level. It currently stands at £7.20, although those working in London see a £8.30 level due to increased living costs.

The living wage level is a calculation on how much per hour a worker should be paid in order to provide a decent standard of living for them. This includes the ability to pay rent, bills and necessities.  The living wage is a voluntary rate of pay above the mandatory minimum wage level of £6.19 for those over 21.

EU Debate Woman Board Quotas

Studies by a BBC News show in May discovered that less than a third of the UK’s most influential jobs are held by women. This sparked a large debate and a lot of controversy, with calls to the European Union to debate the matter.

EU Commissioners are preparing to go into lengthy talks about the issue of what is perceived to be international institutional sexism. There are already proposals on how to remedy the situation, with one of the more drastic ideas to make it mandatory for companies to reserve 40% of their board seats for women. EU Justice Commissioner Viviane Reding [pictured] will present the female quotas proposal in Strasbourg on Tuesday.

Energy Prices Set for Massive Rise

After announcements by British Gas, the largest energy supplier in the UK, that said they will be raising charges for gas and electricity by an average of 6%, Npower have also declared that they will be raising the price of gas by 8.8% and electricity by 9.1%.

This information comes before winter, a time when energy suppliers obviously face a much higher demand for their fuels. Npower’s chief commercial officer Paul Massara said of the rises: "There is never a good time to increase energy bills, particularly when so many people are working hard to make ends meet".

Britain to Hold a Referendum on EU Membership?

David Cameron has hinted at plans that his government will hold a referendum on whether or not Britain should remain a part of the European Union, and whether greater involvement is needed.

A letter to the Sunday Telegraph back in June of this year made it clear that an immediate in/out referendum was not going to happen in the near future. Instead, he wanted a “real choice” for voters, so that they could make an informed decision about the issue.

Some MPs have labelled the move as “party management” and citing the Eurozone crisis as a more prevalent issue. However, pundits considering the UKs departure from the EU have made it clear that Britain cannot remain where it is. Sharon Bowles, Lib Dem MEP, has claimed that some Eurozone countries blame the UK for the current crisis.

Not only was this caused by the fact that the City of London banks agreed that they had let the 2008 financial crisis occur, and subsequently the Eurozone crisis, but recent scandals involving the Libor rigging, money-laundering and PPI mis-selling have made the Eurozone increasingly untrusting of the British financial system.

Some pundits have also accrued Britain’s detachment from the Eurozone, the fact that it has a separate currency and less obligations, have sustained the current problems. If the UK were to stay within the EU, calls for further integration and closer ties would be made. The government has to decide not only whether to stay, but how much sovereignty to award the EU, an issue that is hotly contested throughout the UK.

It is expected that David Cameron will make a major speech about the British relationship with Europe ahead of the EU Leaders Summit in December this year. Then, it is expected for the Prime Minister to lay-out his plans for the future of British involvement in Europe and a response to European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso, call for a new EU Treaty to create “a democratic federation of nation states.”

Amalgamating into a federation of states will be a much closer association with Europe than the UK has previously experienced. The decision is expected to be made by the people of Great Britain, during a referendum.

FSA to Reform Libor Responsibilities for the BBA

Head of the UK’s financial regulator, Mr Martin Wheatley, has will publish a report that suggests reforms to Libor this week. This includes the role of the British Banker’s Association (BBA) who originally collated the data used by Libor.

In the wake of the Libor rigging scandal, in which Barclays were charged and several other banks are under investigation for purposefully altering estimates to control the inter-bank rate, the FSA has decided to review how Libor is run and suggest any reforms that they feel necessary.

It is expected that one of these reforms will be the change in responsibility for the BBA to collate and publish the data that affects the inter-bank rate. The BBA released a statement saying that: "If Mr Wheatley's recommendations include a change of responsibility for Libor, the BBA will support that."

In the current working of Libor, banks submit estimated rates at which they would loan each other money, in particular the percentage of interest on dollars over a 3-month period. The estimates are then used to calculate the standard rate for inter-bank exchanges.

This is a reflection on the financial health of different banks, the benchmark for interest rates on mortgages, loans and other lending.

It was discovered that, for several years, senior Barclays employees were purposefully driving down the Libor rates, which resulted in large losses for savers and investors. Other banks are being investigated currently on the same charges of manipulation.

This scandal compounded several months of other humiliations for the banking industry, including the miss-selling of payment protection insurance and the miss-selling of specialist insurance (interest rate swaps) for small businesses.

Just what the reform ideas will be remains to be seen until the report is published (expected on Friday) and how quickly it can be implemented may affect how well the reform is received. It is speculated that Libor rates will be calculated based on actual market information, instead of bank estimates. One thing is for sure, these recent scandals have sunk trust in the banking industry even further and something has to be done about it.

FTSE 100 Sees 6 Month High Thanks to US Federal Reserve

the previous close line of 5820 can be seen near the bottom of the graph
The US Federal Reserve announced that it was pledging $40billion a month into a flagging US economy, until it saw sustained job market growth. The news comes as a great relief to the UK market as it struggles to deal with declining and unstable European financial systems. A growing and strong US market would give the UK a solid economy with which to trade, bolstering confidence in the UK stock market.

As of 11:13am the FTSE100 was at 5910.41, a 90.49 or 1.6% growth. While it ducked a little from an earlier high of 5911.70, where the index hit its strongest posting in 6 months, the growth is incredibly encouraging during a nervous time for most economies. This is a large step towards the FTSE’s aim of hitting 6000 points, a psychological barrier that, once broken, will provide a huge measure of confidence in the UK market and hopefully stimulate the economy even further.

Experts have warned against being too optimistic about the rise, indicating that while it is a positive move for the market, there are chances for people to run too far ahead and see another drastic collapse. Erring on the side of caution seems to be the way forward.

Dag Muller, technical strategist at SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken/Scandinavian Private Bank) said of the growth, “If you look at the move from the June lows, you can draw some tentative trend channel lines and the upper end of that trend channel coincides fairly well with that yearly high. So ... as long as we don't get any message from the market that it has run too far too fast, I think you should aim at 6,000-plus in this move in the FTSE ... within next week."

A 6000point valuation of the FTSE 100 has not been reached in over a year. The FTSE 250 also saw a boost, with 271.85 rise as of 13:30.