How To Work More Hours And Still Go Home Early As older baby boomers leave the work force and younger workers move into senior management, the workday is becoming much less rigidly defined.... Read Full Article Tom Thumb Would Love To Wear The Latest In Bluetooth Headphones The Pulsar 260 headphones from Plantronics can pick up streaming audio from as far away as 30 feet.... Read Full Article Shiite Cleric Has Six Quit Cabinet In Iraq Shake-Up It was the first time Moktada al-Sadr had followed through with a threat to cut some of his ties with the government.... Read Full Article British Airways Pilots Call Off Easter Strike The threat of disruption to British Airways flights over Easter has been averted after union officials said the airline’s pilots would not take industrial action over the holiday period.... Read Full Article Tempus: Energy Companies ... Waitrose ... Cadbury’s Energy: No shock... Read Full Article |
Alistair Darling To Give City Whistle-blowers ImmunityWhistle-blowers are to be granted immunity from prosecution in return for evidence. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, is planning to hand the Financial Services Authority (FSA) — which in the past has struggled to prove illegal market intervention — plea-bargaining powers known as “specified prosecutor status” similar to those exercised by the Serious Fraud Office. The proposed legislation, to be outlined by the Chancellor in the coming months, comes after the smash-and-grab raid on HBOS last week, in which 20 per cent of the banks value was erased in an hour through unfounded market rumours about its financial health. The FSA has launched a hunt for the perpetrators but analysts have said that the culprits most likely will never be identified. &&&§ionName=IndustrySectorsBankingFinance,mywindow,menubar=0,resizable=0,width=615,height=655); Related Links HBOS executives cash in as shares rise by 15% FSA launches inquiry into HBOS shares plungeMr Darling said in an interview with The Guardian: “I can’t allow us to get into a situation where people quite deliberately manipulate markets for personal gain with the potential to destablise the financial system.” The FSA has been pushing for a US-style plea-bargaining system for some years but discussion with the Government never produced a law. Mr Darling said: “People are getting away with it and the time has come for us to start looking at it again. If a handful of people are up to no good, we have to make sure the authorities have the tools to do the job.” The assault on market distortion comes as pressure on the Bank of England over its handling of the credit crunch increased yesterday when a respected former member of its Monetary Policy Committee criticised Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank, for poor communication with financial markets. DeAnne Julius, a former British Airways chief economist who made her reputation on the MPC as an arch dove, said that the Bank was moving too slowly to lower rates. “They’re behind the curve,” she told Bloomberg Television, adding that if she were still on the MPC at its meeting next month she would vote for a half-point cut. Dr Julius suggested yesterday that much of the blame for the run on Northern Rock last autumn should be laid at the Bank’s door. She suggested that the Bank had not had timely intelligence on problems in the early stages and had been slow to react. “This was first and foremost a liquidity problem, and a problem with the UK money markets, and that’s the Bank of England’s job,” Dr Julius, chairman of Chatham House, the foreign affairs think-tank, said. Tag CloudExternal InformationAdditional InformationUp like a rocket but few will shed tears as Stan O’Neal falls back to Eart...An Economy of Extremes... Staples Cuts Its Forecast... Advertising: Super Bowl Ads of Cartoonish Violence, Perhaps Reflecting Toll of W... Where Am I?News Main Page - Business - Alistair Darling To Give City Whistle-blowers Immunity |
i8news.com |