Hodgson happy with England spirit (From York Press) - The Press in York
Hodgson happy with England spirit
12:13am Tuesday 19th June 2012 in National Sport News © Press Association 2011
England boss Roy Hodgson insists he has not had to take on a dressing room full of huge egos.
One of the concerns expressed about Hodgson when he was confirmed as Fabio Capello's successor was how he would handle the star names within the England camp. His unhappy experience at Liverpool did not bode well and the power said to be exerted at Chelsea by John Terry and company hinted at Hodgson inheriting an unmanageable gang.
Instead, life at England's Euro 2012 HQ in Krakow has been good. Hodgson said: "I feel on a roll because I've found it such an enjoyable job. I knew working with this group of players was going to be a privilege."
He added: "They have gone about their business in a professional way. When you take on a national team perhaps you take on more egos than you do in a club team. That hasn't been a factor so I suppose in that respect I'm feeling good about the job."
Hodgson, 64, is far too experienced to get drawn into the trap of believing England deserve a quarter-final place ahead of their final group game with co-hosts Ukraine.
Yet there is an element of acceptance that, in both the secure manner of their defending against France, and their sheer refusal to be beaten by Sweden, England have contributed something to this tournament that should not be dismissed lightly.
However, if England do make it through, the optimism that was so obviously absent in much of the build-up will be back ahead of one of those quarter-finals the Three Lions have had so much difficulty with down the years.
"It's not just England who haven't always performed when the expectations were heightened," said Hodgson.
"There's quite a few teams that have failed. It's a fact of life. We've come here with the England national team. We believe in ourselves and we want to do well.
"In some ways it's rather nice that people back home are hoping and even believing we can do well, and we're giving them something to dream about and cling onto."
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Tom Maynard dies in accident - ESPN.co.uk
Tom Maynard, the Surrey and England Lions batsman, has died aged 23, the club and the Metropolitan Police have confirmed.
Maynard's body was found dead on the rails near Wimbledon Park tube station in south London around dawn on Monday morning.
It was reported that Maynard had been pulled over by police while "driving erratically," less than an hour before his death. Metropolitan Police said that he had abandoned his Black Mercedes and fled the scene.
A Metropolitan Police statement said: "At approx 4.15am on Monday, officers stopped a vehicle after it was seen being driven erratically in Arthur Road, SW19. The male driver of the vehicle - a black Mercedes C250 - made off on foot. Officers were unable to locate the man. At approx 5.10am the body of a man fitting the same description was found on tracks near Wimbledon Park station."
British Transport Police (BTP) officers were called to the line near Wimbledon Park London Underground station. A BTP statement said: "The incident was reported to BTP at 5.03am and was also attended by Metropolitan Police officers. London Ambulance Service medics attended but the man, believed to be 23 years old, was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident is currently being treated as non-suspicious."
It is believed that the driver on an early-morning District Line train alerted the authorities after he witnessed a body on the track but was unable to stop.
As well as a Coroner's Report into Maynard's death, the Independent Police Complaints Commission is expected to receive a routine report on the circumstances as it occured shortly after the involvement of police officers.
The news was broken to shocked England players as they arrived at Maynard's home ground of The Oval, where the flags were flying at half-mast ahead of the second ODI against West Indies on Tuesday.
A Surrey statement said: "Maynard was an incredibly talented young batsman. His future potential was unlimited, with experts both inside and outside the club predicting he would soon follow in the footsteps of his father Matthew by graduating to full England honours."
Surrey have postponed their Friends Life t20 game against the Hampshire Royals at the Oval on Wednesday, but England's ODI is expected to go ahead.
Tom Maynard was the son of Matthew Maynard, the former Glamorgan batsman who played Test and one-day cricket for England. Tom Maynard was regarded as one of the brightest talents in the game, a destructive middle-order batsman who was perfectly suited to Surrey's enterprising style of cricket. He had played in Surrey's FLt20 defeat by Kent at Beckenham on Sunday.
He left Glamorgan following the removal of his father as director of cricket in November 2010 and joined Surrey where Rory Hamilton-Brown, a former Millfield schoolmate, had been appointed the youngest captain in the country.
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Darren Bravo forced home with injury - ESPN.co.uk
Darren Bravo, the West Indies' batsman, has returned home following the groin strain which he picked up during the first one-day international. Meanwhile, there remain doubts over the fitness of Chris Gayle, who has been sent for a scan on his foot injury, along with Andre Russell who also missed training at The Oval.
Gayle had picked up a stress reaction in the bone on his left foot during the warm-up match last Wednesday against Middlesex at Lord's, while Russell injured his left shoulder in the defeat at West End on Saturday. A West Indies team spokesman said both players had been sent for precautionary scans with the outcome expected later in the day.
It is understood that in Gayle's case, the West Indies physio CJ Clark just wanted a scan to allay any further fears and the batsman is expected to take field on Tuesday, but the situation could change if the scans reveal anything untoward. In the absence of Bravo, West Indies will hope Gayle returns strengthen the top order following the heavy 114-run defeat in the opening match.
With the updated ICC regulations not allowing a runner, Bravo walked in at No. 9 in the first ODI and could barely run as he managed 8 towards the end of the match. He was the second West Indies player to pick an injury during the game as Russell later slipped while turning for a second run early in his innings. Russell had already had a forgetful day going wicketless in his six expensive overs which went for 43 runs.
During the Test series Shannon Gabriel (back) and Kemar Roach (shin) were forced out of the tour.
Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo
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BNY Mellon settles with Prudential Fin over forex trades - Reuters UK
June 18 |
June 18 (Reuters) - Bank of New York Mellon Corp will compensate Prudential Financial Inc after the insurer complained about the pricing of its foreign exchange transactions, according to a recent court filing by the U.S. Justice Department.
Over the past year, BNY Mellon has faced claims - from customers, the Justice Department, and state attorneys general - that the bank improperly charged customers for currency trading. Its settlement with Prudential indicates that the bank may be willing to settle with at least some customers.
The deal came to light in an amended lawsuit that the Justice Department filed earlier this month against BNY Mellon.
BNY Mellon agreed to repay more than half the revenue it generated from the Prudential currency trades in question, according to the amended Justice Department complaint.
Elsewhere in the complaint, the Justice Department said BNY Mellon generated more than $28 million from the trades with Prudential. A deal came in April after the insurer complained, and a bank executive said it heard "loud and clear."
The Justice Department in October sued BNY Mellon in federal court in New York, alleging the bank defrauded federally insured banks in handling foreign exchange. The Justice Department and state attorneys general have alleged that BNY Mellon clients were often given the worst rates of the trading day, or almost the worst rates, when they traded currency with the bank.
A Prudential spokesman declined to comment. BNY Mellon said in an emailed statement on Monday that it has done nothing wrong, and will continue to defend itself vigorously. It declined to comment about Prudential specifically, but said it "will be pragmatic in resolving these issues."
EXAMPLE
A foreign exchange trade for Prudential's trades was used as an example in the Justice Department's amended lawsuit this month. The U.S. government described an Oct. 23, 2008, transaction that BNY Mellon handled for Prudential in which it priced a deal that was "very close to the worst rate of the day."
"If the transaction had been performed according to best execution standards, per the bank's representations, Prudential would have received a more favorable rate," the lawsuit said.
Last month, BNY Mellon won a court victory when a state judge in Virginia dismissed a lawsuit that alleged the bank overcharged for currency transactions handled for pension funds in Virginia.
But in California, BNY Mellon won only a partial victory in a similar lawsuit, with some charges being thrown out and some not.
The Justice Department's lawsuit alleges that BNY Mellon defrauded custodial clients between at least 2000 and 2011 when it exchanged currencies using standing instruction.
From 2007 to 2010, the bank generated more than $1.5 billion from its top 200 standing-instruction clients, the lawsuit alleges. An appendix to the lawsuit lists state, local and corporate clients who used the bank to handle currency trades using standing instruction, a program allowing the bank to consistently handle trades for the client.
The Justice Department's latest lawsuit also singles out BNY Mellon executive David Nichols, alleging he "fraudulently misled customers about the foreign exchange service" the bank provided to clients.
BNY Mellon said in an emailed statement to Reuters that "the belated decision to single out one employee is deeply troubling." A lawyer for Nichols declined to comment.
A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment.
STANDING INSTRUCTION CLIENT
In 2011, as BNY Mellon drew scrutiny for how it traded money, Prudential representatives met with BNY Mellon executives to discuss how BNY Mellon determined its currency-exchange costs. The Justice Department lawsuit alleged that BNY Mellon didn't disclose it used at or near a least-favorable rate for clients.
BNY Mellon, the lawsuit alleged, "intentionally" sought to "mislead Prudential so that it would remain a standing instruction client. Indeed, Prudential would have looked elsewhere for foreign exchange services had (BNY Mellon) been truthful."
The two financial firms continued to discuss the currency-exchange costs, resulting in an August 2011 disclosure where BNY Mellon "admitted" it had made more than $28 million in revenue between 2006 and 2011 for handling standing-instruction currency transactions for Prudential. A month later, "representatives of Prudential expressed dissatisfaction with the way Prudential's standing instruction transactions had been priced."
The BNY Mellon executive in charge of the Prudential account "responded that Prudential's message had been heard loud and clear." (Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
Aegon says 'no damage' to brand following Nalbandian disqualification - Marketing
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Tennis sponsor Aegon says there is "no damage" to its brand, despite the final of yesterday's Aegon championships ending in controversy, when David Nalbandian was disqualified for kicking an advertising panel into a line judge's leg. The financial services ...U.S. watchdog puts credit card complaints online - Reuters UK
* Data will identify banks but not the consumer
* Bankers oppose identifying institutions
* Argue many complaints unjustified
By Dave Clarke
WASHINGTON, June 19 (Reuters) - The new U.S. consumer watchdog agency is launching a website on Tuesday where the public will be able to view complaints made by credit card customers against specific banks and other lenders.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it is releasing the data to make the market for credit cards more transparent and so the public, researchers and the lending industry will have access to much of the data it receives from consumers.
"Each and every time we hear from American consumers about their troublesome transactions with financial products, it gives us important insight," CFPB Director Richard Cordray said in a statement. "The information helps us and it should be available to help others too."
The banking industry, however, has fought the idea of naming specific institutions in the public database, arguing that anyone with a gripe, legitimate or not, can tar the reputation of a card issuer by simply submitting a complaint to the agency.
Under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial oversight law the CFPB is allowed to create public consumer complaints databases. The industry has argued that nothing in the law, however, requires it to publicly name the institution receiving the complaint.
"Why publish the amount of complaints against a specific company when there are many complaints that at the end of the day are not justified," Richard Hunt, president of the Consumer Bankers Association, said in an interview. "There is a significant chance of a reputational hit."
Hunt also said there is a concern that the agency will only release complaints related to the banks it oversees, which are those with more than $10 billion in assets. This could make large banks look like the bad actors in the industry, he said, even if only a small percentage of their customers are filing complaints.
When receiving a complaint the agency determines if the consumer actually has a card with the bank in question and also seeks to determine if the same customer is filing duplicate grievances, a senior CFPB official told reporters on Monday.
No information about the consumer will be included in the public database, the agency said.
The database will provide some information on how the lender responded to the complaint, such as whether the customer received any compensation from the card issuer.
The website will allow users to search the database in a variety of ways, including by card issuer name, type of complaint and zip code, the agency said.
When launched on Tuesday the database will at first only contain complaints received since June 1, about 100 records. The senior official said the plan is to add data received by the agency before that date later this year, after the website has been live for a few months.
The agency is considering creating similar public databases for other types of consumer complaints about financial products and on Tuesday it put out a request for input on what type of products should be considered.
Also on Tuesday, the agency released a "snapshot" of some of the consumer complaints it has received since opening its door on July 21, 2011.
For instance, the agency said it has received approximately 45,630 complaints overall and of these 16,840 concern credit cards. The agency receives the complaints in a variety of ways including through its website and by phone.
The agency said the most common type of complaints on credit cards are billing disputes. (Reporting By Dave Clarke; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
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