Retail sales in Japan rose 3.5 percent year on year in February, said the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on Thursday. Japan’s retail figures saw the largest advance since August 2010 and beat analysts’ expectations of 1.3 percent, published figures showed. Sales were helped by a strong demand in the motor industry, according to the Ministry. Car sales increased 21.4 percent, with Toyota Motors saying its global output grew 28 percent to 811,310 vehicles from a year earlier. Meanwhile, retail sales for fuel gained 4.8 percent year on year in February. Sales of beverages and food rose 2.5 percent, up 1.9 percent from the previous m...
High profile Abu Dhabi investors have been in talks concerning a £10bn investment into Royal Bank of Scotland it was alleged on Wednesday. Shares in the UK bank rose sharply by 4.6 percent in early trade following the news that Abu Dhabi’s ruling family including Sheikh Mansour and other Abu Dhabi and Middle Eastern investors could invest up to £5bn in RBS stock. As much as a third of RBS could be sold to Abu Dhabi wealth funds but shares are still short of the average 49.9 pence the UK government paid for its stake. Critics say a sale at the current share price would therefore leave UK taxpayers with billions of pounds in losses. Discuss...
Coutts, the 320-year old private bank famous for handling the finances of the Queen, has been fined £8.75m late on Monday by the FSA for money laundering violations in its dealings with high risk customers. The RBS-owned bank, which specialises in private banking and wealth management, was found to suffer “serious and systematic” failings, which were “allowed to persist for almost three years,” according to the FSA. Investigators found issues in almost three quarters of the client files it scrutinised. The problems discovered included lack of information gathering to establish the source of the money and failing to closer inspect cus...
Spanish lender CaixaBank, the Barcelona-listed arm of La Caixa, and smaller competitor Banca Civica SA have both suspended trading on Monday, said stock market regulator CNMV. The move is in anticipation of a deal announcement that could see CaixaBank take over Banca Civica in an all-share deal that will value the bank at €1.1bn or €2.2 a share, reports showed. According to local media, CaixaBank is planning to slash the combined workforce by about 3,000 to 3,500 employees, or 10 percent, and shut down around 15 percent of its branches. Banca Civica shares on Friday closed at €2.22 while CaixaBank, which is worth an estimated €12bn, c...
Federal prosecutors in Rio de Janeiro late on Wednesday filed criminal charges against 17 Chevron and drill rig operator Transocean’s executives and the companies for an oil leak in the Atlantic off the coast of Brazil in November. According to Chevron, the leak was stopped within four days and none of the oil that leaked into the Atlantic actually reached the shore or affected any of the marine life. Chevron has already been fined an estimated $110m for the spill after the $11bn civil lawsuit was brought in November. In a statement the company said: “These charges are outrageous and without merit. Once all the facts are fully examined, t...
China has raised fuel prices for the second time this year as it tries to get to grips with the rising cost of crude oil. Gasoline and diesel are to be subject to 6.4 point and 7 point cost increases respectively. On Monday, China’s primary economic planning institution, the National Development & Reform Commission, announced that the price on both retail fuels would be raised by ¥600 apiece, raising the cost of diesel to ¥9,130 a tonne, and gasoline to ¥9,980. The move represents significant progress in both domestic energy and economic policy, and suggests the political establishment is getting increasingly comfortable with the co...
The end of Game appears to be in sight as the beleaguered video game retailer’s shares were suspended from trading on the LSE, with company directors admitting the company “had no equity value left”. The first quarter of the year has been an increasingly rough ride for GAME; the group recorded £18m in losses in January, earlier this month suppliers refused to supply the group with new products, and on Monday shares fell by 76 percent to below 1p – as of 2.39pm on Tuesday, shares are closed. Game is said to be trying to raise £180m this week in order to stay afloat, as the very real threat of administration looms on the immediate hor...
Tata Motors’ Jaguar Land Rover on Wednesday announced that it has reached an agreement on a proposed joint venture in China with Chery Automobile Company. The union, which will manufacture and sell vehicles in China, will be a boost for the luxury British brand in its endeavours to expand even further into the world’s largest automotive market. Both companies will hold an equal stake in the merger company, which will set up a research and development facility and an engines manufacturing plant. In a joint statement JLR CEO Dr Ralf Speth and CEO of Chery Automobile, Yin Tongyao, said: “Working together on this proposed joint venture is a...
Chancellor George Osborne delivering his third budget speech on Wednesday said that his budget was “fiscally neutral” with “a modest reduction in both taxation and spending.” Osborne believes that Britain is in need of a “simple and transparent” tax system which “businesses can easily navigate.” The key points outlined by the chancellor in his budget statement to the House of Commons focused on cutting the top 50 pence tax rate to 45 pence from April 2013. Osborne said: “No chancellor can justify a tax rate that damages our economy and raises next to nothing, it is as simple as that.” In addition the personal tax allowance...
The Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) has launched a $1bn fund with the Chinese government with the intention to invest in the Caribbean and Latin America, said the bank’s President Luis Alberto Moreno late on Monday. It is believed the move will help China strengthen its ties to prominent institutions in Mexico, Argentina and Brazil. The main target for the fund, which is to commence before the end of 2012, will be “sustainable economic development,” according to Moreno. Additionally, the IADB confirmed that it is to create a separate contingency fund for the region, which will focus on helping various nations deal with the effect...