Highlights Of The Year 2012

Here are our picks of the business news and highlights of the year 2012:

December 2012

-George Osborne releases Autumn Statement. The UK growth forecast has been downgraded and the economy is expected to shrink in 2013.

-The UK tax free pension allowance is set to reduce from £50,000 to £40,000.  
-Swiss investment bank UBS was fined $1.5 billion for manipulation of the Libor interbank rate.

-EU banking union proposed to allow the ECB to supervise up to 200 banks.

-Shinzo Abe, Japans new prime minister announces unlimited quantitative easing in order to combat deflation.

-Continued fears over US Fiscal Cliff. Tax cuts and spending cuts anticipated in 2013.

-Belsize Accountancy works with NHS Trust to provide staff benefits to NHS contractors in the medical industry.

November 2012

-Barak Obama wins US elections ahead of Mitt Romney. The UK Contractor market picks up shortly after the election due to increased business confidence.

-Canadian Mark Carney replaces Sir Mervyn King as governor of the Bank of England.

-Hurricane Sandy devastates New York and the East coast. NYSE closed for 2 days.

-George Osborne requests that the £35 billion interest raised by the Bank of England during its quantitative easing programme is paid over to the Treasury. The decision sparked major controversy and threatens the independence of the BOE and Britain’s AAA credit rating.

-Shareholders approve the merger between Glencore and Xstrata to create a global mining and commodities giant. The deal was initially rejected by investors when it was announced back in February 2012.

-Hewlett Packard writes off $8.8 billion of its 2011 investment in Autonomy after citing accounting irregularities.

-Electrical goods retailer Comet fell into administration with an unpaid tax bill of £50m  owed to HMRC.

October 2012

-New agency worker regulations effective 1 October 2012.

-Mandatory Auto-Enrolment Pensions required for all large employers from 1 October 2012.

-Ben Bernake of the Federal Reserve said that he won’t raise interest rates until 2015.

-Tesco announces first profit warning in 20 years.

-NatWest launches government backed funding for lending scheme to promote lending to small businesses. Details on our website.

September 2012

- Gold price rises to record high.

-Fed announces $40bn third round of Quantitative Easing. The Fed will continue its QE programme until the labour market improves.

-America suffers from severe drought. Crop harvest affected.

-Retailer JJB Sports falls into administration and is later acquired by Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct.

-BAE announces merger with EADS to create the world’s largest defence and aerospace company. The combination failed after management were unable to agree terms with the German and French governments.

August 2012

-Olympic Games take place in London.

-HSBC fined over money laundering allegations after it was established that loans were made to Mexican drug cartels amongst others.

-Standard Chartered fined for ignoring US sanctions with Iran.

-First Group was awarded the West Coast Mainline rail franchise ahead of Virgin. The deal was later rescinded due to concerns over the government bidding process.

July 2012

-ECB chairman Mario Draghi announces that he will do “whatever it takes to save the Euro”. The stock markets rose shortly after this announcement showing how fickle the markets are at present.

-Barclays fined £290m for attempting to manipulate the Libor rate. Chief Executive, Bob Diamond forced to resign after investor pressure. He was previously accused of taking excessive remuneration earlier in the year.

-RBS reports system failure resulting in customers being unable to view or withdraw funds from their accounts.

-Security Group G4S reveals that it cannot provide enough guards for the London Olympics. The British Army was called in to provide reinforcements.

June 2012

-The nation celebrated the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee with thousands paying tribute in London. There was an additional Bank holiday in 2012 to mark the event.

-Comedian Jimmy Carr accused of aggressive tax avoidance through the use of his K2 offshore tax scheme. David Cameron criticised such schemes as “morally wrong”.

-Spanish Banks require €100 billion Euro Bail out. Bankia, Spain’s third largest bank is in danger of collapse. 

-BP sells 50% stake in profitable oil company TNK due to management fall out with Russian owners.

-Investors reject £13m pay package for WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell.

May 2012
-Facebook lists on Nasdaq Stock Exchange in record $16 Billion IPO. The stock fell 54% shortly after the flotation. Underwriters Morgan Stanley accused of negligence in valuation of the business.

-JP Morgan reports £2 Billion loss from a single trading position.

-Germany ban short selling of the Euro following concerns over economic turmoil in the Eurozone. The move was later followed by France.

April 2012

-2012 Budget announced. George Osborne criticised for introducing “granny” and “pasty” taxes and for penalising charities.

March 2012

-Iran Subject to EU Trade Embargo.

-Oil prices reach record high.

-Greece receives further EU Bailout.

-ECB employs further quantitative easing to assist ailing banks.

-Tanker strike threat prompts panic buying of petrol.

-Outrage as former Goldman Sachs employee claims bankers referred to clients as “muppets”.

February 2012

-Facebook announce plans to float on the New York Stock Exchange raising $5bn in a record IPO within the social networking industry.

-Spurs manager Harry Redknapp taken to court over tax evasion charges. He was alleged to have received an undeclared bonus payment into an offshore account named after his dog.

January 2012

-Former RBS boss Fred Goodwin stripped of Knighthood for his role in the near collapse of the bank which required a £45bn government bailout.

-RBS Chief Executive Stephen Hester bowed to political pressure and waived his controversial £1m bonus after decline in share price of the bailed out bank.

-UK retailers La Senza and Blacks Leisure fall into administration.