Resolution's announcement that it is returning cash to shareholders isn't quite an admission of defeat. It has done roughly what it said it was going to, allowing for some shifts of approach along the way, and some dimming of its ambitions... more
Land Securities’ landmark One New Change development in the City should be fully let within months as tenants snap up scarce office space, the firm says... more
Free medical treatments could be cut back in the next decade as the NHS struggles under the strain of Britons’ unhealthy lifestyles, a report warns... more
When I visited the office of Barclays chairman Marcus Agius recently, he proudly showed me a corridor, the walls of which were covered with portraits of the bank’s founders. Quakers.
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The Friends Provident/Resolution merger is a great deal. For a very small number of people. Resolution founder Clive Cowdery in particular has done well ... ... more
Sir David Walker last week unveiled proposals to encourage shareholders to take more interest in their investments in the hope that their greater involvement would prevent a recurrence of the boardroom failures that contributed to the banking debacle
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Cricket: Joe Denly rescued Kent in their Friends Provident Trophy clash against Warwickshire at Edgbaston this morning when hitting a century — and that was good news for Middlesex... more
Cricket: Australia's Phillip Hughes — a sensation in the county championship — continued his mediocre one-day form after being dismissed early on in Middlesex’s Friends Provident Trophy Group B clash with Scotland... more
Economy: Fund management giant F&C Asset Management has announced its second jobs cull in four months as it admitted it is facing "downward pressure on revenues and margins"... more
Insurance: A vulture fund set up to prey on weak insurers and fund managers has revealed it has raised £600 million from investors keen to begin the hunt... more
A drive to tackle soaring levels of stress in the workplace was launched amid research showing the credit crunch was putting extra pressure on staff... more
It is rare for a company to be destroyed by a good idea but that is effectively what happened to Friends Provident. Last year it tried to take over cash-rich Resolution Life as a way to continue to finance its own expansion in wealth management and traditional pension and insurance products... more
Afternoon:
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