Osborne: Taxpayers Not Responsible for Libor Fine on RBS by US

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has said that the fines likely to be imposed on the Royal Bank of Scotland by US authorities over the London Interbank Offered Rate scandal should be met by the bankers not taxpayers.

The bank is expected to receive a fine between £400m ($628m, €460m) and £500m from US and UK authorities for its attempts to rig the Libor and other benchmark rates. Libor tracks the average rate at which major international banks based in London lend money to each other.

The collective settlement between the US Department of Justice, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and... (Continue Reading)

Michael Dell-Led Consortium Offers to Take Dell Private at More Than $24 Bn

A consortium led by Michael Dell is closer to inking an agreement that would see PC maker Dell Inc going private in a buyout deal, according to media reports.

Private equity firm Silver Lake Partners is joining the Dell founder and CEO in the deal that could top more than $24bn (€17.6bn, £15.3bn), say the reports.

The consortium intends to acquire Dell at $13 to $14 per share, valuing the company... (Continue Reading)

Japan Unemployment Rate Rises to 4.2% in December

Japan's jobless rate has increased to 4.2 percent in December, blocking the country's ongoing efforts to tackle the economic slowdown under the new leadership of Shinzo Abe.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said that the unemployment rate rose to a seasonally adjusted 4.2 percent in December from 4.1 percent in November. Economists were also expecting the rate at 4.1 percent.

Unadjusted, the unemployment rate was...(Continue Reading)

Dragons' Den Star Peter Jones Buys Failed Jessops Brand

A group of investors including BBC's Dragons' Den star, Peter Jones, has purchased the collapsed camera retailing brand Jessops, according to the retailer's administrators.

On 9 January, Robert Jonathan Hunt and Matthew David Hammond of accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) were appointed as joint administrators of The Jessop Group. The camera retail chain closed... (Continue Reading)

Chinese PMI Figures Send Mixed Signals on Manufacturing Activity

China's ongoing economic recovery has picked up steam in January with the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbing to a two-year high, in contrast to the modified official index that unexpectedly eased in the same month.

The National Bureau of Statistics said that the PMI declined to 50.4 in January. Economists were expecting an increase to 51.0 in January from 50.6 in December. Any reading above 50 indicates an expansion in the manufacturing activity.

In order to compile the index, the government has increased its sample size to 3,000 from about 800 starting from this year. Therefore... (Continue Reading)