Royal Bank of Scotland fined $24 million
LONDON -- A British regulator fined Royal Bank of Scotland about $24 million Wednesday for failing to offer proper advice to mortgage customers and criticized the bank for its delays in responding to the initial complaints.
While not as large as a series of recent penalties for U.S. mortgage-related activity by other banks, the fine from the Financial Conduct Authority of Britain is the latest setback for the bank, which is based in Edinburgh, as it tries to reshape itself and regain the public's trust.
The British government owns 81 percent of the bank after it received a $74.5 billion bailout during the financial crisis.
On Wednesday, the regulator said the bank and its NatWest business had failed to ensure that consumers were given suitable advice when taking out a mortgage, including neglecting to consider the full extent of a customer's business when making a loan recommendation.
The bank and NatWest also failed to address the problems adequately when they were first raised by the Financial Services Authority, the Financial Conduct Authority's predecessor agency, the regulator said. The activity at issue occurred between June 2011 and March 2013, the Authority said.
-- The New York Times
Net back up, Time Warner Cable says
NEW YORK -- Time Warner Cable said Wednesday service was largely restored after a problem that occurred during routine maintenance caused a nationwide failure of its Internet service for hours.
The company said it is still investigating the cause of the problem, which occurred with its Internet backbone, the paths that local or regional networks connect to in order to carry data long distances.
The company said the problem affected all of its markets and started at 3:30 a.m. Wednesday. Service was largely restored by 5 a.m., and updates eventually brought all customers back online, the company said. The system failure sparked widespread complaints on social networks.
Tim Farrar, an analyst at TMF Associates, said there are major failures of at least one telecom provider every year, although typically they aren't fully national.
"AT&T had a major outage back in April, Comcast had one last October. Verizon Wireless had several national outages on its 4G network back in 2012," Farrer said.
-- The Associated Press
Boston hotel to rent out rock club suite
BOSTON -- One of Boston's swankiest hotels is paying tribute to a dingy rock club.
The Hotel Commonwealth next month will start renting a room called the Rathskeller Suite, named after the club of the same name.
Simply known as The Rat, the club hosted bands that went on to become the biggest names in rock music, including The Ramones, The Police and Metallica. The Rat was a classic basement dive -- dirty, smelly, dark and grungy. It closed in 1997.
The Boston Globe reported that the room at the hotel, built on the site where the club once stood, will be filled with Rat memorabilia, including the dressing room mirror covered in band stickers and items left behind by the bands. It will cost up to $1,095 per night.
-- The Associated Press
U.S.' Medtronic to buy Italian company
U.S. medical device maker Medtronic is building stronger ties to Europe, a couple months after announcing a $42.9 billion acquisition that involves moving its main executive offices across the Atlantic, where it can get a better tax deal.
The Minneapolis company said on Wednesday that it spent $350 million to buy a privately held Italian company, NGC Medical S.p.A., that manages cardiovascular suites, operating rooms and intensive care units for hospitals. Medtronic already held a 30 percent stake in the business, which works with hospitals in Italy but also is expanding in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
The announcement came a day after Medtronic said it would spend about $200 million in cash to buy a privately held Dutch company, Sapiens Steering Brain Stimulation, that develops deep brain stimulation technologies.
In June, Medtronic unveiled plans to buy Ireland-based competitor Covidien PLC in a $42.9 billion cash-and-stock deal that would involve moving its executive offices to Ireland, where the company can benefit from that country's lower tax rates.
Medtronic Inc., which makes pacemakers, insulin pumps and other devices, is one of several U.S. companies considering or putting together tax-lowering overseas deals known as inversions that are drawing scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers.
An inversion happens when a U.S. corporation and a foreign company combine, with the new parent company based in the foreign country. For tax purposes, the U.S. company becomes foreign-owned, even if all the executives and operations stay in the U.S.
-- The Associated Press
IMF chief probed for negligence in case
PARIS -- Christine Lagarde, the chief of the International Monetary Fund, was put under official investigation Wednesday for negligence in a French corruption investigation that dates back to her days as France's finance minister.
After a fourth round of questioning Wednesday before magistrates, Lagarde said she would return to her work in Washington later in the day and said in a statement the investigation was "without basis." She is the third IMF managing director in a decade to face legal troubles.
She and her former chief of staff face questions about their role in a $531 million payment to a businessman with a checkered past.
"After three years of proceedings, dozens of hours of questioning, the court found from the evidence that I committed no offense, and the only allegation is that I was not sufficiently vigilant," she said in her statement.
Under French law, the official investigation is equivalent to preliminary charges, meaning there is reason to suspect an infraction. Investigating judges can later drop a case or issue formal charges and send it to trial.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 08/28/2014