The London Fire Brigade is attempting to reduce house fires by encouraging revelers to get a takeaway on their way home instead of cooking after they have had a few drinks.
Japanese tech brand Panasonic is to launch its first smartphone in Europe in March 2012, seven years since it last sold mobile phones outside its home country.
Harman Kardon, the electronics brand, has signed up pop star Jennifer Lopez to appear in its latest global ad campaign, ‘Beautiful Sound’.
Marjorie Scardino, Pearson chief executive, has sold 50,000 shares in the company, netting herself more than £572,000.
Asos.com marketing director Clare Dobbie has parted ways with the online fashion retailer after joining the company in March last year.
EasyJet founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou has teamed up with Lastminute.com founder Brent Hoberman to launch a new car-sharing initiative, which he hopes will tap into consumers’ environmental concerns and belt-tightening outlook during the current economic climate.
GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INC
Mark Machin, co-head of the U.S. banks’s Asia investment banking operation for six years, is retiring, according to an internal memo obtained by Reuters on Monday, and is the second senior Asia banker to depart Goldman in the last month.
SWISS RE
The Zurich-based insurer said Chief Executive Stefan Lippe will take early retirement after roughly three years at the helm, in a surprise move which analysts said added a new element of uncertainty to a company which Lippe had helped stabilise.
BARCLAYS
Barclays Corporate & Employer Solutions named Paul Wilson as head of employee benefit consulting and Chris Mowatt as head of global stock & reward services. Wilson joins from St James’s Place Wealth Management, and Mowatt from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney.
AVOCA CAPITAL HOLDINGS
The credit investment management company named Tarek Saber as chief executive of Avoca Convertible Bond Strategies, and Jasper Van Ingen as senior portfolio manager. The company also named Jonathan Sharkey as head of operations, and Darren Carter as partner in the new convertible bond venture.
ALVAREZ & MARSAL
The global independent professional services company named Ian Morgan as senior director. Morgan joins from European Resolution Capital.
FIRST STATE INVESTMENTS
The asset management company named Julie Thomas and Ben Yeoh as sector investors for its London-based global equities team. Thomas and Yeoh will specialise in financial and healthcare stocks respectively. Thomas joins from Oriel Securities and Yeoh from Atlantic Equities.
AXIS CAPITAL HOLDINGS LTD
The Bermuda-based insurer and reinsurer said its Chief Executive John Charman will retire in May 2012, and will be replaced by finance chief Albert Benchimol.
GLEACHER & CO SECURITIES INC
The broker-dealer unit of Gleacher & Co Inc named Brian Waltman as managing director at the company’s New York City headquarters. Waltman joins from MF Global Securities Corp.
EUROCLEAR
The provider of domestic and cross-border settlement and related services for bond, equity, derivatives and fund transactions named Luc Vantomme as chief risk officer of the group.
It also named John Trundle as the CEO of Euroclear UK & Ireland. The current CEO, Yannic Weber, will now become the top executive of Euroclear Finland and Euroclear Sweden. Weber will continue as CEO of Xtrakter, a Euroclear company.
The company also named the current Euroclear Finland and Euroclear Sweden CEO, Anso Thiré, as managing director and head of business development for the group.
MBA LAZARD
The investment bank named Cristian Bulnes as the managing director and co-head of its Chile investment banking. Bulnes joins from Banco Penta.
