11/02/2014 World Business Report

without a companion, will be formally welcomed to the White House

on Tuesday. Those are the latest headlines from

BBC News. Now for the latest financial news

with Sally Bundock and World Business Report.

Barclays is expected to defy calls for pay restraint and reveal its

bankers are getting bigger bonuses. Asia's biggest air show kicks off in

Singapore. With the local market set to triple over the next two decades,

we look at what's on offer. Welcome to World Business Report.

I'm Sally Bundock. We will bring you up-to-date with the market action in

Asia. It's been a torrid few days for

Barclays and today it may attract some more difficult headlines when

it releases its full earnings report in a few hours. The UK bank took the

unusual step of releasing its headline profit figures a day early,

after the numbers appeared in the financial press. So the bank's

pre-tax profits for 2013 rose to ?2.9 billion. In dollars, that's

?4.76 billion. But what will attract most interest today is probably that

old chestnut, bonuses. Barclays is expected to reveal it is paying more

in bonuses to its investment bankers than the ?2.14 billion dollars it

paid in 2012. So, has nothing changed in the city or is it back to

bonuses as usual? With me now is Christopher Wheeler, Banking Analyst

at Mediobanca. Give us your take on what we know so far about Barclays'

performance last year. Yesterday they announced an adjusted figure of

?5.2 billion which compared to ?7 billion last year. They told us that

would be 1.2 billion. If you take that out of the interest, the

results are probably down five or 6%. That means the investment bank

will be down about 10%. At this time of year it is the bonus season and

it is always in the press this difficulty between what bankers are

earning in the city and what politicians and the general public

thing. We'll Barclays pay it bankers more this year or last year? My

calculations which I think in line with the market suggests they will

be down 9%. Bonuses are based on revenues which suggest they will

fall this year. The amount of that income paid out may go out slightly,

I have heard talk of 41%. I know Ashley Jenkins is targeting 35%. The

size of the port is unlikely to go up given it has been a tough year

one fixed income markets and it has been affected by equities and other

markets. What about the argument some banks are making in the UK and

other cities in Europe that they are losing talent to bigger investment

banks in Wall Street cause they are restrained in terms of bonuses? The

European banks are also having to turn somersaults over the EU borders

constraints and working out how to pay their people appropriately but

undoubtedly the course of those that Ashley Jenkins is seen to be more

careful with the bonus pay-outs and undoubtedly the US banks who do not

have those constraints, there is not the noise on Wall Street there has

been in the UK. He has turned down his own bonus. This has become a

common situation with UK bank managers, JP Morgan managed to take

a 20 million bonus. It shows the completely different attitude in the

UK to the United States. As full as they get the full earnings report

from Barclays, we will update you. The Singapore air show has opened

today and as usual there is a lot of interest in the ongoing battle

between Airbus and Boeing for market dominance. The fleet of aircraft in

Asia will triple in size over the next two decades, meaning there will

be demand for close to 13,000 more planes, so it is a key market. Our

reporter is at the show. Tell us more about how it is going. The

Singapore air show has opened two huge optimism. We have had news that

one company has signed a deal with Boeing worth $1 billion. Airbus is

also expected to announce a deal within the next few hours. It has

its latest plane on show for the first time here in Singapore. Boeing

appears to be unfazed by the competition. To have the right

products on the market at the right time, I think we have been able to

do that. We launched an aircraft a couple of years ago, last year we

launched to back new programmes as well as a 777 programme. If you look

at our product line we are extraordinarily well positioned. You

are still facing problems most recently with Air India. Do you know

what caused us problems? Yes. I think when we talk about that

situation it was well understood the issue and we worked on it and they

are plane is back in service. In terms of the battery that is

something we worked on last year and we came up with a solution that

addresses all the possible causes for the issues we had and that

situation is improving. We have delivered about 70 team liners. We

are putting assets on the ground and investing in the product to get even

better. Talking about competition in the market, you are facing

competition from Airbus and China and Japan emerging as serious

competitors. What is your strategy? We have new competition from the

Chinese, Japanese, Brazilians, what we have to do in that situation is

learn from them, they bring in new ideas and new technologies, they

raise the bar for all of us, we have to invest in new technologies,

ensure we have the right strategy and find ways to reduce the cost of

building our flights. No matter who the competition is, we will be the

winner if we do those things. How do you think China will shake-up -- and

Japan will shake-up the industry? There is no question there is room

for us and Airbus to grow and maybe one or two mac new competitors, the

question is, who will they be and who will be successful? Our

customers will decide. It is not just Boeing that is hugely

optimistic about the prospects for growing in Asia. There is huge

demand for new planes from lower cost carriers. Many chief executives

are optimistic about how that will see their future. Two among the few

that we have been talking to today who say that their prospects are

bright display tops of a slowdown in China and the impact on the region.

We will hear more as the show progresses.

The Federal Reserve chair will give her first testimony before the house

financial services committee today and will face questions on the state

of the labour market and the future pace of drawing back on stimulus.

While the tone is likely to be upbeat on the economy she is thought

to emphasise rates are set to remain near zero foreign extended period.

General Motors has announced plans to pay its boss $44 million this

year, a 60 -- 14 $.4 million this year. It comes after criticism of

underpaying hard for her gender. The markets will be affected by what

Janet Yellen has to say today. We will review the papers in a few

minutes. The Church of England's drilling

assembly will attempt to speed up powers