Jewellery and Watch venue Birmingham NEC to be sold

The Birmingham NEC, home to a number of industry events including Jewellery & Watch Birmingham, Autumn Fair and The National Wedding Show, is to be sold off by the city council.

Principal objectives of the proposed sale are to secure an investor who shares the vision and strategic ambitions of the NEC Group and to maximise the proceeds for Birmingham City Council.

It is thought that the sale will help the council pay a £1 billion bill to settle thousands of equal pay cases from women employees who were paid less than other workers, mainly men, for doing equivalent jobs.

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Banks accused of gold fix price manipulation

The five banks tasked with setting the London benchmark gold price have been accused of manipulating prices in a federal lawsuit filed at a New York court.

New York resident and COMEX trader Kevin Maher, who filed the report, claims the banks – Societe Generale, Deutsche Bank, Barclays, Bank of Nova Scotia and HSBC – colluded to manipulate prices for profit in a large scale fraud plot.

Maher, who says he bought and sold gold, gold futures and options, has filed the suit on behalf of himself and other investors who held or traded gold and gold derivatives based on the bank-set gold fix from 2004 to now. The lawsuit is seeking unspecified financial compensation.

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