Business News

Wall Street insiders had shunned Madoff for years

Regulators investigated widespread suspicions and exposed lies but failed to act

Inside Business News

Japan cuts key interest rate to 0.1% new

Friday, 19 December 2008

Japan cut interest rates to just above zero today and announced extra steps to ease a credit crunch that has ravaged companies worldwide and plunged leading economies - including its own - into recession.

Gloomy retailers question accuracy of 'rosy' sales data

Friday, 19 December 2008

Sales rose 0.3% last month, if Government figures are to be believed

Setback for BA as Qantas merger talks are grounded

Friday, 19 December 2008

Airlines fail to agree on stakes in combined group

Insolvency reform to offer creditors more information

Friday, 19 December 2008

A crackdown on insolvency regulations will come into effect from 1 January that will make it harder for some practitioners to quickly push through controversial sales of retailers in administration.

Schapiro promises to restore trust in financial markets

Friday, 19 December 2008

President-elect Barack Obama's pick to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission promised to restore trust in financial markets at a "perilous time" for investors, but critics wondered whether Mary Schapiro has the "outsider" credentials required to engineer a radical overhaul of the tarnished regulator.

Credit Suisse to pay bonuses in toxic debt

Friday, 19 December 2008

Credit Suisse has hatched a cunning plan to avoid public condemnation over executive bonuses this year: it is going to pay top managers not in cash, but in the toxic mortgage assets that caused the credit crisis.

Lehman broker 'ran $4.8m insider trading ring'

Friday, 19 December 2008

A Lehman Brothers broker whose wife works for the public relations firm Brunswick has been charged with running a $4.8m insider trading ring, using information about the merger and acquisition deals that his wife was working on.

The Indian giant with a begging bowl

Friday, 19 December 2008

With UK car production down by a massive 33 per cent last month, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) might be expected to turn to Tata, its deep-pocketed Indian parent company, for help.

Credit crisis diary: McFall provides some new year fun

Friday, 19 December 2008

Members of the Commons Treasury Committee had better get some rest over Christmas because it is going to be a busy new year. The committee's sessions on the banking crisis will kick off with the MPs questioning those shrinking violets Professor Willem Buiter and Jon Moulton. Then there's an almost endless list of victims: hedge funds, auditors, credit rating agencies, investment banks, part and non-nationalised banks, the Bank of England, and even the press. Thanks to John McFall, the committee's chairman, for laying on such an extravaganza of entertainment during the dark winter days.