"UK artists and labels dominated sales at home like never before, releasing all of the top 10 best-selling artist albums of 2014," said Geoff Taylor, chief executive of music industry body BPI.
The new Banque Publique d'Investissement (BPI) looks very like Germany's venerable KFW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau), the reconstruction bank set up after 1945.In this section Unhappy families Why doesn't France have a Mittelstand?
Attention is focused on the central bank, which was due to reply to Unipol's request for approval by December 25th, but the deadline has now slipped.With magistrates probing BPI's operations and with some actors in the BPI-Antonveneta saga also tied up in the Unipol-BNL affair, the banking supervisors will have extra reason for caution.
And, unlike an investment by BPI in its own shares, the investment in VESF is not deductible from BPI's core capital.The pact of the matterIn spring 2004, Antonveneta was up for grabs; it was clear that a shareholders' pact, which owned 31% of the bank, would not be renewed in April 2005.
Even the headquarters of the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), which challenges the Ayala Tower for dominance of the skyline, is not really a rival: BPI is the financial arm of the vast Ayala empire.Ayala has six divisions: property (Ayala Land), banking, mobile phones, utilities, call-centres and electronics.
A report published by the music industry body BPI suggests music has been a key influence in the demand for smartphones and tablets.
In the 22 years since it was established – by the BPI and the trade body of record shops, lest we forget – the Mercury prize has come in for its share of criticism.
The huge popularity of music streaming shows no sign of slowing, with the BPI estimating that a quarter of adults used a service such Spotify, Deezer, Google Play and Rdio last year.
In a statement, the BPI said: "Mental health problems sadly affect people in all walks of life, including those in the creative community.
Figures compiled by BPI, the trade body representing the British music industry, show that British artists have dominated album sales in the past 12 months, with the chart topped by Ed Sheeran whose second album X sold 1.7m copies – the highest album sales since Adele's 21 in 2011.
Commenting on the notably strong year for British music, Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI and Brit awards, described the success as remarkable and said the business was postitioned to expand further this year.
