02/07/2012 World Business Report

He has said, however, that they will be waiting for a definitive

results. The latest financial news committee

it is away. -- Sally. Welcome to World Business

Report. London's interest-rate fixing scandal claims its first

scalp, but will it be the last? Greece faces a key audit by

international lenders. There are speculations it will ask for

another two years to fulfil the conditions of its bailout.

In just over one of our's time, the banking giant Barclays will

announce the resignation of its chairman. The BBC understands he

made the decision to go on Saturday night, citing the devastating blow

to the bank's reputation from the revelations it had tried to fix

interest rates. The rate fixing scandal has sent

shock waves through the industry. It has now claimed its first high-

profile victim. The chairman of Barclays is resigning. The fixing

of interbank lending rate has already cost the bank �290 million

in fines. Until now, those are -- those who are at the top of the

bank had refused to quit. This really goes to the heart of the

British economy and the heart of the city of London. I hope the

authorities, shareholders and regulators really react

aggressively and fast in the next few days. Barclays is one of more

than 20 banks currently under investigation. Rival RBS sacked

four of its traders at the start of the Year, a move designed to prove

that it was, and is, in control of the crisis. On Sunday, the head of

the city watchdog made a comment. Further steps were made to enable

us to bring criminal charges, but they did not cover the libel market.

I that we need to look further and see whether we should strengthen

these powers considerably on top of what we have at the moment.

(CHANTING). After a resurgence of shareholder activism - like these

protests against Barclays' pay deals, Vince Cable says it is

shareholders, not the government or regulators who should hold

management boards to account. Before answering to shareholders,

Barclays' boss Bob Diamond will have to answer to MPs at the

Treasury Select Committee on Wednesday. With growing public

anger, there will also be questions about whether he, too, should now

step down. For another view, let's speak to

the editor of the Banker magazine. Do you think this is enough? The

chairman going? I don't think it will be. This libel fixing scandal

is in a league of its own. It is different to those of insider

trading at banks. This affects the whole of the market. It will affect

London's reputation as a financial centre. All but Lee, who runs

Barclays is up to the shareholders. -- ultimately. He will have to go

before a Treasury Select Committee this week and ask some questions

about what has gone on at the bank. No doubt they will focus on the

fact that US authorities say that management and new, and in fact,

instructed, workers at Barclays to go ahead with these actions. Yes,

some very damaging things came out of the report from the US

regulators where they said the senior bank management instructed

the traders and these have knitters to carry out this practice. -- and

these have -- the submitters. regulation to light in the UK?

don't think that London is worse than other places, but regulations

might need to change. There are regulations out there which might

restrict London more than other markets, but they have not kick in

yet. The UK Bank executor or is less competitive than it has been

in recent years? That's right, the bank has released in the top 1,000

will banks today - if you look over the past five years, you see that

UK banks used to hold a 10% share of world banking profits, now it is

about 5%. In the meantime we are seeing a Chinese banks continuing

to grow - they have about 30% share of world profits, which is a

fantastic performance. Thank you for your thoughts. We

will have that announcement at seven o'clock London time.

Can Greece clear on to membership of the euro? The country's new

government may ask for two more years to meet their targets when

the troika returned to Athens today. On Sunday, senior ECB officials

told German television that Greece must stick to its austerity

programme 100% if it wants to stay in the euro. That is looking less

achievable by the day. But troika were not too impressed

last time they came to Greece. Since then, deepening depression

and the distractions of an electoral campaign have further

slowed process, making it even more unlikely that Athens can ever

fulfil its financial promises. The Conservatives, socialists and

moderate leftists would like to bargain for a two-year extension,

along with more rescue cash. Brussels insists that the elections

changed nothing, though the IMF admits it is open to discussions

about how Greece can best meet its objectives. The troika will assess

conflicting evidence of process with reforms. One report says that

civil servant numbers will have been cut by 100,000 by the end of

the Year. Another suggest 70,000 have been recruited in two-years.

When it comes to the promised privatisations of state utilities,

sell off programmes are ready, according to this economist, but

politicians would not push the start button before the elections.

They claim that they were ready to proceed with privatisation, however,

these elections have been a big obstacle. Namely, political parties

have refrained from taking the necessary decisions to proceed with

privatisation, thinking that if they win elections, if one party or

the other party wins, then this will mean that they will have a

free hand to decide how to progress. Meanwhile, the troika can only

focus on achievements to date. These reports will provide evidence

as Athens appeal to their EU partners to respond to sacrifice

his by recession-hit Greeks. There is more evidence that

Europe's debt crisis is Wayne on other parts of the world. June saw

the weakest growth in China's manufacturing for around seven

months. In Japan, sentiment measures came out better than

expected. This survey showed that Japan is,

perhaps, or remaining resilient? That's right. Both manufacturers

and other businesses seem less pessimistic in the three months up

to June. The big manufacturers are coming in at minus one, which is an

improvement compared to the previous quarter. The country's

economy has been recovering quite strongly after the earthquake, but

we have to remember that there have been quite a number of special

measures that the Government has implemented as well as the Bank of

Japan, in order to boost the economy. This survey is a rather

backward-looking data collection. If you look at the recent

manufacturing data, from, as you say, both China and Japan and

across Asia, it seems like the global recession or slowdown has

been starting to affect the manufacturing activities hear it in

Asia as well. -- here in Asia.

Apple will pay a Chinese company $60 million to settle their long-

running legal dispute over the iPad name and its use in China. Apple

said it brought the global rights to the name in 2009, but Chinese

authorities say that the ownership was never transferred. The

settlement will lead to possible complications in selling the device

in China - one of Apple's most important markets.

Later today, plans for a plant in the southern US state of Alabama

are expected to be announced to assemble the new model of short-