IN BRIEF

British Airways battles cabin crew strike

LONDON: British Airways yesterday said emergency plans to handle a three-day cabin crew strike were working well as opponents sought to use the dispute to embarrass the Labour government weeks before an election. The walkout over pay and jobs which began at midnight will disrupt travel for thousands of passengers after talks between the Unite union the Labour party's biggest single financial backer and management collapsed. A further four-day strike is planned later this month. BA, which plans to fly more than 60 per cent of passengers this weekend some 49,000 people a day despite cancelling many of its scheduled flights, said its biggest ever contingency plan was going well. "Our main aim this week has been to give customers as much information as early as possible so that they take up one of the options we have offered them," a spokesman said.

UK Conservatives back bank tax plan

LONDON: Britain's opposition Conservatives would introduce a unilateral tax on banks similar to the plans of US President Barack Obama if they win the upcoming election, leader David Cameron yesterday said. The announcement came after the Financial Times reported Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour government would in next week's budget endorse plans for a global tax on investment banks but rule out creating an insurance fund against future failure.

No European financial protectionism

PARIS: EU financial services commissioner Michel Barnier sought on Friday to calm US fears of discrimination over European financial services reforms that would regulate hedge funds. "No market, no product, no territory will rest in the shadows of intelligent regulation, efficient supervision," said Barnier on France's LCI television. But "there will be no European protectionism if there is no American protectionism, there will be one regulation", he added. EU leaders have since delayed putting into place regulations on hedge funds.

Lloyds predicts return to profit in 2010

LONDON: Partly-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group forecast on Friday that it will return to profitability in 2010 and reported strong trade in the first few months of the year. "In the first 10 weeks of 2010, the group's trading performance has been strong and we are pleased with the group's performance against each area of recent guidance," Lloyds said in a trading update. Lloyds is 41.3-per cent owned by the British government.

US pay czar trims salaries of GM exec ranks

PHOENIX: The US pay czar will slash the number of top General Motors Co executives who will receive base salaries of more than US$500,000 this year. US pay czar Kenneth Feinberg said he plans to release the 2010 compensation decisions next week on the five large US companies that are under pay restrictions as part of their government bailouts. The rules restrict the top 25 executives from receiving more than US$500,000 in base cash salary unless a company can prove a good reason for the higher pay. GM is more than 60 per cent-owned by the US Treasury after a government-funded bankruptcy and reorganisation in 2009. Agencies