A round-up of the key stories across the specialist financial media, including news that Sir Fred Goodwin, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, is being stripped of his knighthood.
Goodwin stripped of knighthood
Sir Fred Goodwin, the former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland, is being stripped of his knighthood, in the latest political concession to public anger in Britain over the perceived arrogance of some senior bankers.
George Osborne’s Treasury is grappling with an exodus of personnel as officials fume at low pay levels and high staff turnover, creating real operational difficulties with the Budget just seven weeks away.
Facebook is expected to submit paperwork to regulators on Wednesday morning for a $5 billion initial public offering and has selected Morgan Stanley and four other bookrunners to handle the mega-IPO, sources close to the deal told IFR.
Nomura Holdings Inc. reported a 33% on-year gain in net profit in the October-December period, as its cost-cutting measures and an asset sale mitigated the effects of global market instability and the European debt crisis.
Asian real estate markets from Singapore to Beijing to Mumbai are stalling or have started declining as governments seek to curb the type of housing bubble that brought down the US economy. In Hong Kong, rising borrowing costs, extra transaction taxes and higher down-payment requirements imposed by the government have fueled the slump.
Chinese manufacturing indexes rose in January as the world’s second-biggest economy withstood weaker exports driven by Europe’s debt crisis and a government-induced property slowdown.
