Investors were yesterday engaging in the sort of deep textual analysis often applied to the single currency speeches of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown but rarely applied to the words of Terry Benson, the plain-speaking chief executive of the recruitment consultancy Michael Page International.
Compare: “Business confidence remains weak, but I believe the group is well positioned to produce considerably better results when market conditions improve” (19 August). A spokesman for the Treasury said theGreen Paper would “contain a range of options”.But he admitted the work being done by the Inland Revenue on making changes to the way pension schemes are taxed, which lie at the heart of pension complexity, may not be finished in time for inclusion in the Green Paper, sparking fears meaningful simplification is unlikely to be achieved.. The Government is planning to publish a Green Paper on pension reforms next month. It also wants to see rules tightened up to stop directors, in the knowledge their business is on the rocks, walking away with their full pension entitlements in the event of insolvency leaving their staff with meagre sums.Its proposals have been submitted to the Department for Work and Pensions Select Committee, which is compiling a report on the future of pensions in the UK. This would work out at about £100 per week for everyone.The Government is also being asked to reward savers who lock their money away in pension funds for the long term with more generous tax treatment.The Confederation of British Industry and the TUC joined the NAPF’s calls to simplify the complicated pensions system, but stopped short of supporting its more radical plans to abolish the basic state pension, currently £75.50 a week for a single person.The NAPF has also called for greater protection of members in company pension schemes, suggesting employers contribute to a compensation fund that bails out pension schemes should a company go bust. She says radical change is needed to create some stability in pension provisionThe NAPF wants to see the Government do away with its tangle of state pension benefits and replace the current regime with one ‘Citizen’s pension’, linked to earnings. Plans to raise the retirement age to 70 and radically simplify how people save into their pension schemes were put to the Government yesterday by the National Association of Pension Funds, in an effort to turn around the demise in pension provision in the UK.

The shares have dived by more than 25 per cent since the group’s profits warning last week.. JP Morgan Chase declined to comment on the reports that it was preparing to axe 4,000 jobs – or up to 20 per cent of its staff – last night.Shares in Credit Suisse slumped a further 7 per cent yesterday to 20.30 Swiss francs, amid fears that the Swiss financier Martin Ebner was selling his 5 per cent stake. But its parent company, Credit Suisse, last week warned the division would post a third-quarter operating loss as falling revenues took their toll.More than 54,000 jobs have been cut on Wall Street in the past 18 months as investment banking business has dried up.JP Morgan warned last month that it would cut jobs as sluggish trading and bad loans hit its third-quarter results. In many cases, the guaranteed deals date back to CSFB’s takeover of Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette in 2000.A spokeswoman for CSFB declined to comment on the reports last night.CSFB’s former chief executive, John Mack, has already cut 4,500 jobs in the past 12 months in a move that helped the unit return to the black in the second quarter. About 60 bankers are believed to have agreed to give up guaranteed pay deals, and most staff are expected to follow suit. Credit Suisse First Boston has asked its staff to tear up their contracts as the Wall Street-based investment bank attempts to stem losses.
The move comes amid reports that CSFB’s rival JP Morgan Chase is preparing to cut up to 4,000 staff by the end of the year.CSFB’s investment banking head, Adebayo Ogunlesi, told managing directors in New York and London last week that he would ask staff in the investment banking unit to “rip [their contracts] up”, sources close to the group told the Bloomberg newswire.

But he added: “Large losses have been taken, and more are yet to be recognised.”. For the US, it foresaw 2002 growth of 2.5 per cent.Meanwhile Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board, said America’s banking system remained strong despite corporate bond defaults, business failures and stock market falls. Industry leaders yesterday urged the Bank of England to leave interest rates on hold “for the foreseeable future” asnew figures showed manufacturing output had ground to a halt. It can be quite refreshing to be involved in both the public and private arenas.”At the LSE Mr Cruickshank lobbied hard for the abolition of stamp duty on share transactions.. “What I’ve been doing is things that are difficult, complicated, need change and bridge the public-private divide. He suggested yesterday that another role in the public sector might suit him.