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Germany softens firing rules to lure banks fleeing Brexit

The German government agreed Wednesday a draft law that would loosen restrictions on firing top-paid bankers, one of a string of measures designed to ease the financial sector through Brexit.

Germany softens firing rules to lure banks fleeing Brexit
Frankfurt is Germany's banking capital. Photo: DPA

“The law on protection from firing for so-called risk-takers at major banks will be loosened,” Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told reporters in Berlin, adding the move would “strengthen Germany as a site for the financial sector”.

Industry associations have long called for the freedom to get rid of high-earning traders or other key employees if they fail to perform as expected.

They say the change will help Frankfurt — already home to key institutions such as the European Central Bank — as it races with other financial centres like Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin to attract banks looking for a new home as Brexit disrupts the City of London.

SEE ALSO: The world's smallest global city: How Frankfurt is selling itself to Brexit bankers

Other steps planned in Berlin include changes to tax and insurance laws to prevent firms suffering in case Britain and the remaining European Union member states cannot agree a deal before Brexit day on March 29.

Several large banks have already decided on Frankfurt — known as “Mainhattan” for its clutch of skyscrapers along the Main river — as their future EU base.

Among them are US-based Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, and Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui, Daiwa Securities and Nomura.

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BUSINESS

France’s EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

French energy giant EDF has unveiled net profit of €10billion and cut its massive debt by increasing nuclear production after problems forced some plants offline.

France's EDF hails €10billion profit, despite huge UK nuclear charge

EDF hailed an “exceptional” year after its loss of €17.9billion in 2022.

Sales slipped 2.6 percent to €139.7billion , but the group managed to slice debt by €10billion euros to €54.4billion.

EDF said however that it had booked a €12.9 billion depreciation linked to difficulties at its Hinkley Point nuclear plant in Britain.

The charge includes €11.2 billion for Hinkley Point assets and €1.7billion at its British subsidiary, EDF Energy, the group explained.

EDF announced last month a fresh delay and additional costs for the giant project hit by repeated cost overruns.

“The year was marked by many events, in particular by the recovery of production and the company’s mobilisation around production recovery,” CEO Luc Remont told reporters.

EDF put its strong showing down to a strong operational performance, notably a significant increase in nuclear generation in France at a time of historically high prices.

That followed a drop in nuclear output in France in 2022. The group had to deal with stress corrosion problems at some reactors while also facing government orders to limit price rises.

The French reactors last year produced around 320.4 TWh, in the upper range of expectations.

Nuclear production had slid back in 2022 to 279 TWh, its lowest level in three decades, because of the corrosion problems and maintenance changes after
the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hinkley Point C is one of a small number of European Pressurised Reactors (EPRs) worldwide, an EDF-led design that has been plagued by cost overruns
running into billions of euros and years of construction delays.

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