Scottish Business Briefing - Tuesday 31 May, 2011

BANKING & INSURANCE

Chinese tie-up will help RBS cash in on flotation surge

ROYAL Bank of Scotland launched a Chinese joint venture yesterday aimed at tapping into the world's biggest market for company flotations (Scotsman).

New Aegon UK chief vows to protect jobs

The new chief executive of Aegon UK, where up to 600 jobs in Edinburgh face the axe this year, has said he will fight to defend Scottish jobs and sees no need for "major outsourcing" this year (Herald)

Read all today's banking news from scotsman.com

ECONOMY

Credit on the rise for small firms but cost still 'too high'

THE availability of credit for small manufacturers has increased for the first time since the recession - but the cost of borrowing is continuing to rise, research today indicated (Scotsman).

House prices to fall this year but then climb back

House prices will continue falling for the remainder of 2011 but will then embark on a fresh four-year climb, an influential think-tank has predicted. In a report published today, the CEBR forecasts a 1.4 per cent fall in UK house prices in 2011. But it expects prices to then rise by an annual rate of 4 per cent over the four years to the end of 2015 (Scotsman)

Read all today's economics news from scotsman.com

INDUSTRY

Canada trip lands 1m of trade

SMALL businesses based in Glasgow are looking forward to new orders worth more than 1 million in total, following a recent trade mission with the Scottish Council for Development and Industry to the Canadian city of Toronto (Herald).

Read all today's industry news from scotsman.com

TECHNOLOGY

Scots firm Teknek 'in talks with third party'

A SCOTTISH technology firm founded more than 30 years ago to make cleaning equipment for the electronics industry yesterday revealed it was "in discussions with a third party" but denied the business was up for sale (Scotsman).

Read all today's technology news from scotsman.com