>> taking shape. approving an interim cabinet ahead of an election. >> rbs reports full-year results within the hour. could they deliver the biggest loss since 2008? david tweed putting his lego skills to work just out of their earnings to see how they built itself up after mounting losses a decade ago prompted a major reorganization.

hello. welcome to "countdown." >> just gone 6:00 here in london this thursday morning. we have earnings releases as well as other things. the company's latest results showed a wider loss in 2013 dan previously thought. don't miss our exclusive interview with the cfo later this hour. elian's -- from allianz breaking now. neils anderson will talk to us after earnings break next hour. they own the biggest container shipping line. breaking now. fourth quarter has missed estimates. analysts estimated 1.3 one

level is above what they had targeted. the actual figure for a operating profit, 10.1 billion, up over the previous years mine .4 billion and given some guidance. operating profit will be between 9.5-10.5 billion. they have raised their dividend to 5.3 euros per share up from 4.5 and they will be looking to see whether they are planning share buybacks or will stick with an increasing dividend as well. those are the early headlines from europe's biggest insurer. speaking to the cfo in about an hour time. today theykraine interimapproving an cabinet ahead of a may 25

presidential election. ryan chilcote is in the ukraine and filed this report overnight. afters nearly one week president yanukovych has been ousted. stage, the politicians have come to present their candidates for the country's new government and receive the people's blessing. politicians in this country runs very deep even when it comes to those who were in the opposition of yanukovych. look around independence square and you quickly realize the real power in kiev today are the people in the square. the constituency maybe tens of thousands in a country of 45 million.

as far as i can tell, it looks like it will stay that way for some time to come. ryan chilcote, bloomberg, kiev. >> royal bank of scotland reporting full-year results. ross mcewan is expected to announce an entrenchment of the investment bank. jonathan ferro is here with more. it's going to be a loss, just how big it's going to be. >> it's going to be some ugly numbers with a substantial full-year loss. aslysts say could be of high $8 billion pretax loss but the strategic review is really the known unknown. they focused on the corporate customers, the business lending, the retail banking. will there be any aggressive job cuts? they came out and denied it aggressively. we've been kicking this around. they have to put more money aside.

raiseeans they have to capital. however they going to do that? they have been selling assets aggressively and now it's about the businesses as well. remainingsell the stake in the insurer in the u.k. raise in just over one billion pounds but the focus is what happens with citizens group. talk of an ipo later this year. that now needs to be accelerated or do they just spin it off altogether and look for a buyer? always be a headline grapple when you talk about a substantially owned by the taxpayers. >> on the banking world, that is not a big bonus and it's down from last year. when you are owned by the government and you are set to deliver a massive loss, it's hard to justify when you look at the loss and isolation. out rbs whoe people delivered last year am delivered substantially.

they're struggling in a fair

wear with virgin australia. they are asking for government assistance after a loss of 252 million australian dollars. baidu forecasted first-quarter sales beating estimates as they boost spending to reach mobile users. revenue will be over 1.5 oh yen dollars in the first quarter, a 60% rise. searchs investing in services to compete for the 618 million internet customers. the biggest supplier of nuclear reported a services wider loss last year on charges for reactor project. they reported a net loss of 494 million euros. we will have more on those earnings and the cost-cutting plan later today when we speak to the areva cfo coming up. welcome back to "countdown."

>> the time in london is 6:15 a.m. we thought we would focus on toys other than lego. there isguest says still room for the old-fashioned playthings by mixing with the traditional with the little bit of the high-tech. to explain. us now it's fascinating. good morning to you, blurring the lines between traditional and the electronic. >> the most recent leadership of this has been happening with skylanders. you can play the video game with a figurine as well come mining the collect the bull with videogame platform. >> explain for the uninformed. >> it's a great game available on different consoles. have alastic figurines narrative attached to them and they use communication technology which puts the figurine that you have physically on the screen you are

playing with so you are almost able to have your figurine in use the narrative to play. >> how is the industry fighting to win kids attention in this era of mobile devices? from what i can see in my household, kids are getting younger and younger in their use of mobile technology. influencing the toy industry? >> there are more sophisticated toys coming out in the markets. they are making tablets for children now combining the educational to the tablets and catering to the preschool audience. there are more sophisticated toys driving the more sophisticated. >> you mentioned vtech and le apfrog. they specialize in high tech toys but what about companies moving into toys. this is an area we've seen a number of tablet makers essentially, with versions

looking as though they are very much aimed at children. >> they have been using these kinds of tablets and they're trying to combine this with anderent word folios potentially even different cartoons and movies of mellon the future to create that narrative to take a child from conception of playing with physical toys through to the entire lifecycle. >> to and toys is a fascinating lego year after year is trying to entice the girls to use its characters. barbie has had a couple of tough years, declining revenue year-over-year. what's the relationship right now between toymakers and girls he? how are they enticing girls to play with their toys? >> there are certain pressure group saying there should not be this differentiation between boy

and girl toys for companies like hasbro have come up with the range that is completely catered to girls than lego has been very successful recently with the complete targeting of girls in the lego with friends range. was recently on the cover of "sports illustrated ." is that alluding the brand? does that affect the brand when you see a barbie doll on the front of a seminal magazine? there are all sorts of debates after that took place. >> it is an age of compression where children are playing with older toys at a younger age. was very much a traditional doll and now it's becoming more of a fashion icon and goes in tandem with the theme that girls want to play with makeup so it could be as soon as catering to that.

>> how much should the toy industry plan around what children want and what terrence of children want to go -- parents of children want? >> if the children who decide with the parents purchase in the end but the educational value is still very important. i would just speaking to someone the other day who makes these traditional dolls and they are more role model-orientated. they're looking at this instead of the traditional type of barbie. star wars, transformers, spiderman. you do not want to license too many brands because the money has to go to the license holder, doesn't it? >> there were still very good margins and they have done well creating their own licensed property. whichare marvel comics

are in the film, the lego movie, and they will continue that through the point of purchase. they have this selection of intellectual property and other ranges. >> what's the secret of making money and toys? >> i'm not sure i'm privy to all a them, but if you can get child at birth to be familiar with that brand and go through the crowd up to lifestyle. >> favorite toy ever? >> the old-school super soaker. >> i love that when i was young. >> the doll house painted by my father because he might be watching. thank you very much, toys and from the euro monitor. new zealand is gaining altitude on its rivals. we dig into the results next. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." jobs in thell cut for the new jet. they are making the case for government assistance after a $226 million loss but they are flying high after its latest results. live in hong kong, john dawson has the status check on an airline outperforming its peers. good morning, john.

>> good morning. beating the kiwis are their rivals and their figures are out tomorrow and it's not looking good. there shares are down 25% in the last 12 months. they are off the lows now. one in seven of the staff will be gone by 2017. boosting the case for government assistance again. deliveries ofy more than 50 planes from airbus and boeing. there are clearly concerns about .ts future profits rising 29% to a record. they are getting it right. paying a special dividend today confirmed on

bloomberg tv this morning. there is speculation that they will not be paying dividends. >> what is the latest on air asia ? >> the numbers were not fantastic. speculation is that they were not paying a dividend and tony byrne and those confirmed to the rishad. this, for the bottom of the days decline. >> sorry. i was expecting a soundbite there. i know you want to weigh in on this toy debate. what is your all-time favorite toy? i don't really want to weigh in because i will show my age in yours. when i was 3 or

4. the eye that moved? or spiderman with the web. thisll of recollections morning. just ahead, credit suisse. stay with "countdown." ♪

and heree-nomic anna edwards are the top headlines. they told the thousands gathered in independent square that politicians are set to approve the candidacy today in ukraine. >> the gang that had floated the key of with the blood is gone. today, they have virtually no executive branch of government. >> angela merkel expected to call for a stronger european union and her visit to the u.k.. they will address both houses of

parliament and have tea with her majesty, the queen. canadian pop star justin bieber has been released showing him walking unsteadily during a sobriety test in his arrest in miami in january. he has pled not guilty and driving with an invalid license. welcome back to "countdown." >> 631 a.m. in london. testifying before a senate committee on the role in tax evasion. insisted this conduct was limited to a handful of employees. hans nichols as the details from berlin. good morning. ritual to these hearings. or anyllenge to dougan,

executive, is to be contrite but not give away ground to hurt shareholders. on this one key point on whether anyone would be held accountable, you kept hearing them press the question. >> how many culpable officers in key executives have you held accountable or fire the? >> we determined to shut this business down. over the course of the first two years after that i'm a we basically reduce the size of the business by about 85%. >> how many employees were fired? different credit suisse employees serviced the 22,000 u.s. linked accounts. the committee's report, only 10 of the 1800 were disciplined and no one was fired. is that an accurate statement? is largely accurate. >> why do people take money out of the country of origin and

move to switzerland? historically, one of the things obviously highlighted is they are sheltering assets and income from paying taxes. >> he was mostly unfazed. he had a quick blank back when senator levin cut him off but he tried to turn things around on notsenate saying they are allowed because of the failure between the swiss government to find harmony on a tax treaty turning around saying the senate if they act it would be a lot easier to cooperate with international inquiries. how much of it will there be today when angela merkel visits prime minister david cameron? you know when i come visit in

london and you guys rolled out the red carpet in do you compete with you can be more charming and welcoming, it will be a little bit like that because david cameron needs angela merkel. he needs her support and their relationship into the eu. the problem is that while merkel may be sympathetic to the idea of renegotiating treaties, it is no small thing for the germans with a lot of conversation down here. she is not just meeting with cameron. she's meeting with her majesty the queen and opposition leader lliband,.r ed miller >> when will we be rolling out the red carpet again soon? when will we have your regal presence again? >> do not make me pull out old e-mails. you have invited me to your

country pub and said it would be on your tab. it's on. we will talk about it later. >> we will have to understand and arrange tee with the queen. that's what we do with all of our foreign visitors. thank you, hans nichols, in berlin on brady dougan's drilling on capitol hill. some entrepreneurs want to have . backup plan hans takes a look at switzerland's plan b. >> your smart phone knows where you sleep and shop at a swiss company wants to help you establish a zone of privacy from facebook, twitter, and other apps crawling on your device. >> you still control your identity and you can let a split no what you do but not necessarily who you are. that is the philosophy. >> they want to secure your digitalic passport, a

master key, behind these glass walls in the swiss alps. security is a next of major and modern followed by turnstiles .nd tunnels even the air inside this bunker is secure. it is a giant shaft that moves out into two lateral spans. convince you that your personal id will be secured inside this swiss mountain. the bunker was designed for the swiss high command to live for months in the case of nuclear war. the army madere all of their strategists. we're now talking about the digital system. isperhaps the greatest asset swiss neutrality out of the reach of the nsa.

>> has snowed in been good for business? -- snowden been good for business? >> people will not trust anymore what they were obvious to trust. >> they were once famed for the secrecy. could storage be an alternative? want to restore data which is the next currency. >> they are considering an ipo on the nasdaq with plans to build hunters like this one all across switzerland. likeans to build bunkers this one. >> it will update to your personal cloud. >> it will not leave the mountain. hans nichols, bloomberg, switzerland. >> let's stick with the subject of phones because huawei

phone to double sales. caroline hyde just got back from the mobile world congress. but the going on with the chinese cell phone manufacturer? huawei is a manufacturer. about lettinged the chinese build their internet equipment so they're trying to break the u.s. market in smart phones and i was there at the launch of the new product. they want them to be more expensive launching two tablets and a talk band, a bracelet that exercise, but you can wear it on your ear and speak through it while you are in the car perhaps.

>> they have such high ambitions. to onent to double million smart phones this year. they see about 300 euros per smart phone where they really want to push. 160 oneage is about dollars, half of what the average is worldwide. in the u.s., the average selling price is a next sets of $500 -- in excess off $500. they said they are far from being a dominant player and i spoke to them earlier in the .eek >> the plan is to be a leader in the world. we want to be one of the leading smart phones and consumer companies in the world. that's really what the people are doing here now. >> they are number three in the

world. >> they want to raise prices. doesn't that go against the trend of cheaper smart phones? >> they are big in europe and asia. there is a saturation point in the u.s.. than samsung dominating most of the market. the trend is now going for cheaper phones so why would you try to push far more expensive they've got a long way to go. to push the more expensive phones but maybe they should concentrate more at home. they are the fourth largest in china. this were talking about very thing, the pricing of smart phones. he has a vested interest in getting more people online globally and raising concerns about that. caroline, thank you. >> coming up, how to save one billion euros.

looking to cut costs and they want to readjust after plant closers in japan and germany following the fukushima accident. we will have an exclusive next.iew with areva's cfo ♪

>> "countdown welcome back to." ." welcome back to "countdown and theirrted a loss implementing a cost-cutting plan by 25th teen. for more on the progress, we are joined by the chief financial officer, pierre aubouin. has taken some charges in relation to some projects that started that cannot last decade. have you finished taking charges in relation to those or are there more to come? >> good morning. we are trying to make the best be theent of what can full costello losses potentially .n these projects

we are taking the best of you we can in terms of this so we obviously expect to have recurring charges for next year. >> what will be the biggest challenge. urest to do with plant closer in germany and japan? what is your biggest headache looking at the year ahead? that there is the overall balance between the demand and offering the world of mining and uranium markets in the sense that since fukushima was roughly 10% of the fleet that shut down for safety reasons in japan and for political reasons and germany. progressively, some new plants are coming online where we have the big question of the plants coming online and there has been a strong reaction because of the

political news in japan that the thatnment is concerned this will be very important news for the markets because the offer and demand would be different than the last five years. >> what is the future of the industry in the post from the shema air a? -- post-to be fukushima era? >> it is mostly because of the huge pressure of gas in the u.s.. you have ready seven reactors at the end of 2014 14 and you have another 72 new plants being built around the world and then about 15 countries so that means the nuclear global fleet will be growing over the next few years

and this is very important for us. represents 85% of our business and this means growth potential looking ahead. how confident are you about expansion plans in the u.k.? approvaliting for u.k. and in investment of that particular nuclear reactor in the u.k.. they have raised questions about the role of the u.k. government in this project. are you confident that this will ?e approved gekk >> it is very sound and we believe that it could be a role model for the whole european union to be replicated in the european union so we're quite for the contractual differences that the u.k. government has implemented as a new model going forward and we

that in order to make that happen over the next month or so, definitely we expect them to be launched after the etf finding sometime before the end of this year. >> how would you like to fund your investments in hinkley point, pierre? will you have to raise capital to invest in others around the world? for hinkley point, we are talking about roughly half a billion pounds. this is going to be a gradual investment over time. this is something that we are looking for by the year 2020. a strategic decision because we believe it was very important to make sure that the u.k. regulatory model we described would be used for an

actual project and this is the reason why we took this very exceptional step and we do not expect to replicate. >> pierre, how are you doing in the renewables business right now? the renewable business has been somewhat challenging over the last couple of years. investment has been increasing the last couple of years probably because they're quite concerned about the stability. as you know, most of these projects only can happen because of the lower prices and the main reason we have been suffering is the renewablesor business and we believe the best way to continue and be stronger in that business and be able to the downturn in the

market and also the ability for the new generation of product would be through partnerships and we have launched a partnership with the spanish corporation and we are about to solar and others. >> pierre, thank you for joining us today. pierre aubouin, chief financial officer of areva. facing aster united critical five-game spell that could define his future. stay with us. ♪

>> welcome back. i>> am anna edwards. >> 6:53 a.m. and an hour away from the start of european equity trading. just the three of us today. caroline, take it away. it's all about big data, isn't it? this is about helping farming and agriculture become more efficient. analyzing data from tractors and machinery to see how they can best plant soybeans and the like. they are pretty terrified on there's concern coming from bemers that this data may moved onto agricultural traders so we could see the prices of

agricultural goods fluctuate on the back of this data. they are worried about it being shipped off to rival farms or aid the hybrid cultural firms rather than the farmers. agricultural firms rather than the farmers. whether it will go back to the places where it came from which is at the heart of what they worry about. monsanto will have to change the hearts and minds of them a little bit. >> hordes, swords, and the nordic noir. lens of the in the most recent invasion in the form of tv programs. british museum is staging its biggest exhibition in some 30 years on vikings. we've got some photos of a

viking horde. note, 36 boat of some meters long carrying 100 men dated back to 1025. it was made from wood found to have been from oslo. article doesn't mid to being slightly disappointed by the fact that only 20% of the boat had been reconstructed and the rest had formed this metal structure. they're working with limited materials. interesting stuff. i loveve the vikings and manchester united, in case you did not know. a tough time coming up for the manager. you might know that manchester united lost in the champions league. many expected him to draw if not win. a critical 18 days are approaching for this man for

david moyes. the article says if he loses most of these games including the second leg of games which could means they are evicted from the champions league. if he loses to liverpool at home in a few weeks, that could mean that liverpool takes the spot atch means they will be home. manchester city, the big rivals in the league in the next few weeks, moyes could lose his job. he's favorite to lose his job by the bookies. they are taking on no more bets and share price has fallen by 15%. been paidey has 300,000 pounds per week. and possiblying 150 million. do they want to get that amount of money to a manager who is not

performing> >> "countdown" continues in the next hour with earnings from allianz. we will talk to the cfl and get numbers from rbs has well. ♪

. .

>> taking shape, lawmakers in the ukraine as the prime minister leads an interim cabinet ahead of the presidential election. >> looking to rebound, rbs full-year results are just crossing, did they deliver a loss? >> and david tweed puts his lego skills to work. we find out how the company built itself up after mounting losses a decade ago. hello, welcome to "countdown."

i mark barton. >> i am an edwards. evidence, raising its fourth-quarter profits missing estimates. we will hear from the cfo of the business in just a few minutes. been the chief executive -- then the chief executive officer to "countdown" for insight into the earnings of the world's largest container shipping line, moeller-mae4rsk. >> we are expecting the numbers from rbs. telling us the earnings before interest and tax coming in just below expectations. 3.1lysts had estimated 4 danish krone. maersk says they are expecting

to grow at the same pace, 2014 freight rates depressed by ongoing capacity. that is the story crossing. full-year global container increasing 4.1%. they're proposing to issue four new voter shares per share in existence. we will be speaking with the management of that business coming up in about 45 minutes. >> let's talk about rbs, even though the numbers have not come in yet. are still awaiting them. we are expecting a loss, could be the biggest since 2008? >> people are talking about a pretax loss in the billions, ranging between 6 billion, seven billion pretax loss. full-year loss, 9 billion pounds. full-year operating loss of 8.2

billion pounds. six .7s estimate was billion. it is a sizable miss. waiting on detail on how they will do that. the market unit bonus will be 237 million pounds, down from 287 million pounds in the previous year. rbs will allocate 576 million pounds for bonuses. millionr was 679 pounds, so this will be very contentious. >> the types of businesses they are in, we are waiting for the strategic review. the headlines right now, rbs to shrink international and securities assets by 50 billion pounds. >> cutting assets very aggressively. strategicting on the review as the headlines break, what they will do with citizens at the u.s. unit, will it be an

ipo later, will they try to accelerate that process, or will they try to spin it off. a lot of headlines, digging through them now, but he full-year operating loss, 8.2 billion pounds, a big one, and a big miss. analysts had thought 6.7 billion. on alianz missed estimates net income basis. the cfo joins us now on the phone from munich. good morning, sir, thank you for joining us. >> yeah, good morning. >> digging into the fourth-quarter operating profit at three key divisions, declined for a second quarter in life and health and asset management. is this an ongoing trend that investors will have to get used to? the kleins in operating profits in the other units? >> no, i think we are well set

in all three segments. we had special effects either in previous asset management where we had a previous quarter where we had high performance fees which did not read heat, and we had some special restructuring in the fourth quarter, with the total result of the year of more than 10 billion operating profit s i think we have reached a level from the financial crisis. i think we are very well on track. >> i want to talk about the asset management to visit and, -- the asset management division, in particular pimco. how worried are you about the outflows? pimco had think that a huge track record in building

sizable assets under management, 1.4 trillion euros in a fairly short time. 2013 is more a year of consolidation. but resulting in a record profits we are making in the asset management division, 3.2 billion euros of operating profit, i think that compares very nicely with most other asset managers in the world, and is broadeningimco its profit offers, its extensions, it's product offerings, and it makes it realistic for the next year. >> i cannot mention pimco without mentioning the division of the ceo and co-cio, who will resign in january. an article in "the wall street

journal" paints an interesting in light on the management style of bill gross. didn't paint a true reflection of bill gross' management style? many would call it autocratic. >> well, i think there is a lot of speculation in the article. in the end, mohammed is doing something else. he still stays within the allianz corporation, specially tasked as our global economic adviser, and pimco has a high performance culture which has created great returns for its customers and also for us as a shareholder. >> did you have any issues with gross'management style? how would you describe it? >> i think it is really a team which always wants to deliver

the best, and that is what they are doing all the time. and i think when you look at the talent pool, the six people we whoin place as deputy cio's have all been greatly evolved as fixed income managers of the year in various categories, it shows really a team of top people who always want to go for the gold medal. , i have to ask about what is happening in norway, because you sued norway and the abu dhabi wealth fund over a decision to cut the transportation of new gas volume through the gas pipeline by as much as 90%. can you tell us what the losses and write-downs chile are ash write-downs actuallty are on this? , 6.1s, i must say

billion krone, it was actually an estimate of 800 million rubles, a number i can better deal with, and we are writing down in 2013 about 50 million euros. more lost return, and i think it is a very important discussion because europe needs a lot of infrastructure investment, whether it is energy or highways or other forms of infrastructure to make europe a leading economic zone in the world. for this infrastructure investment, you need investors who can trust what is going on. therefore, i think it is a very crucial discussion, and that governments and super organizations in europe give

this trust to long-term investors. >> mr. wemmer, it has been good talking to you. thank you for your time. dieter wemmer the ceo of allianz , europe's world largest insurer, which issued a profit warning. >> lego is one of the best-known toy companies and perhaps the most dynamic, more than tripling profit in the full-year of 2012. today we will get an update on the performance from 2013. david tweed is in lego's home town in denmark. they are having success, but not always the case. how do they turn around? >> we were talking earlier how the new chief executive, a 34-year-old, came into the company and he asked fundamental questions. the main question being, what is lego? he actually looked at the company and realize the company

isn't a lot of areas that were not really lego in terms of the brick, talking about the theme parks they sold off, the hotel. they were sold off. the focus came down to the brick , and they reduce the amount of bricks they are making from 13,000 to 7000. and this is what it is all about. let's have a look at how they make them. ♪ if lego figurines were humans, there would be enough of them to populate asia. are in the hundreds of billions. it is like a military operation. this is where the bricks are made. they deliver them to this machine. they are then injected into this mold. the incredible thing is the

procession that make the bricks that come out of fear that click and stick onto any other brick that is made by lego. so many parts are made, lego has a surprising way to ferry them out. goes around, collects the bricks. don't worry, it will bump into me. made, theyrts are are sent for decoration and assembly. >> each of these can have as many as 12 levels of detail added to them. you see on the machine each of these pieces, adding a level of detail. i find this assembly machine mesmerizing. there are 35 steps. they are adding all our's to the torso, -- they are adding arms to the torso, then the other part of the arm. there is a part of the process we are not allowed to show, painting faces of new figurines that are not coming out until

next year. absolutely no cameras, top secret. with so many parts thrown together, it is a miracle the right ones are in the right back. or is it? they used to do it by hand. little room for error. now they have the machines. this one is doing great bricks. i have a yellow one here. it is the wrong shape, wrong size. reject it. now the third and final phase, packaging. these boxes are put together with absolute precision. poppingcuffs or bits out our snapped by supersmart cameras. 4500one product line sees boxes packed per hour. that is how legos are made. mark, to say i have had a good time here in denmark is an understatement. i have something here now from the movie. this is to give an idea about the creativity of legos.

you don't always have to do the same thing. here it looks like an ordinary truck, but with the same pieces, you can actually make something a little more interesting. some sort of spaceship, not quite sure what you would call it. it looks like a nurse mover. not sure at how low -- it looks like an earth mover. not sure how it will get off the ground. >> what was the aircraft carrier that you had? >> the aircraft carrier. advanced,ot all that but something still quite pretty about the bodies and smiling faces. david, tell us about what is coming up next? later, wecoming up will look at something that david beckham has been making with the legos. that is coming up in about an hour. atn we have the earnings nine: 30 london time. i will break the airings. straight after that, we have the

interview with the lego chief executive officer at 10:15 london time. guys? >> david, thank you very much. >> just ahead, the latest earnings from rbs. the bank posted its biggest loss since 2008. ♪

>> welcome back. this is "countdown." 7:17. time in london is rbs reported a pretax loss of about 8 billion pounds. our next guest says the bank is still woefully inefficient. matthew beasley, thank you very much for coming in. your initial reaction to this biggest loss since 2008? >> these results are bad, but it was well thought they would be bad. headlines are clearly showing the scale of the challenge of ross mcewan is still large. the one that grabbed my attention was the publisher of this bank. wasas in the 70's today, he expecting it in the 50's. this is still a woefully inefficient bank, six years after the troubles of 2008 with

still much more work to do. >> are they getting anywhere in delivering a credible plan, matthew? you are a shareholder, potential shareholder, into a retail business, corporate? they've announced they will reduce risk rated assets, cutting more jobs. but are they laying out a coherent strategy of how they intend to get from "a" to "b." >> they are, but this is a very different strategy from stephen hester. has beenent addressing this new plan with ross mcewan and investment bank has been shrunk down, which some investors are dead set against. he was also keen on maintaining citizens bank in the u.s. longer. the government one at that asset to go sooner rather than later. on the u.k. side, their core business is good businesses but

there are still large inefficiencies. you look at the revenue earned per employee at rbs, 101,000 -- 120,000 employees, down to 90,000. lloyds bank they are making more. >> you're suggesting that rbs could cut jobs even more? >> the broad headline suggests that rbs is 30% less efficient. the policy change and cost income ratio, from the 70's down to the 50's, that is progress, but there is still a lot of fat to be cut from rbs. >> matthew, thank you. matthew beesley stays with us to share his thoughts on rbs. we will take a short commercial break. ♪

>> welcome back to "countdown." i'm anna edwards. >> i'm mark barton. rbs, you sayce of interestingly the shares may be valued lower than they are currently trading? today we are seeing there will be further write-downs to come and get over. we have some asset sales to

occur. we'll be waiting for the sale of the u.s. midwest banking business. >> just don't know when that will happen. overhang,is a large and let's be clear, the government wants them to sell this. it is a very large overhang, keeping some shareholders away. much is this company depended on the recovery of the u.k. economy? they are talking quite positively about the u.k. today, saying they are seeing signs of recovery, increased confidence in the u.k., talking about improving credit quality, decreasing risk to lending. if you factor in these valuations, strong recovery and the u.k., how high can the share price go? >> the answer is not quite enough yet. the government wants them to be a purely focused u.k. lender. still have a very strong role in the retail part of the business, and we know the u.k.

is growing very strongly. they are talking about the u.k. economy growing three percent this year, and this bank will benefit. there is lots to like about this stock potentially, but there is still lots to hear. >> what makes matthew beesley b uy rbs shares? >> i think the targeting can be achieved. if you believe the higher end of the range is somewhere around 10, the stock in trade at a modest premium perhaps, which growth in the next two years. there is potential here for an interesting stock. >> the liberal profiting programs will be key? >> we have had several starts, false starts. we're still talking about 8 billion pounds, and substantial amounts of restructuring. the risk reward is ok here, but it don't think it is fantastic, and that will keep many

investors on the sidelines. foronuses down last year the at higher economy and the market division, matthew, enough to appease those who don't like to see banks paying their star bonuses when they make losses? >> i'm not sure anything more than zero is enough to appease some in the media, but they are a bank that is making money. i think we should ask, if they were not there, perhaps the losses would be higher, and they have made the bank money. >> are they going to be the bits that are going, though? >> this is where mr. hester was coming out. he thought the parts had a lot of value. there was lots of room for criticism, but there are good parts of the business. >> matthew, thank you very much for joining us. matthew beesley joining us today. >> coming up, the ukraine's

interim government is starting to take shape. the interim prime minister today, and we will have more on today's agenda, live from kiev. ♪

>> i'm mark barton. protesters in kiev have asked for an interim president. sinceting president people have gathered in independence square, and they are set to approve the candidacy today. >> the gang that had flooded kiev with blood is gone. today, the ukraine has virtually no executive branch of government. expect tomerkel is call for a stronger european union today. the german chancellor

arrived in london. she will address both houses up clement and have tea with the queen. and a new video of justin bieber being released shows him walking and steadily during a separate a test at a police station in miami in january. not guilty to driving under the influence, resisting arrest, and driving with an invalid license. hello, welcome to "countdown." i'm mark barton. >> i'm anna edwards. credit suisse testified on the bank's role, insisting misconduct was limited to a handful of employees. our international correspondent hans nichols has the details from berlin. toughgan faced a audience, a skeptical audience,

but nearly a ritual to these hearings, the challenge for any bank ceos to be contrite, admit some mistakes, but not give anything away that would get them into trouble with their shareholders. a fine line walked yesterday, and on this key point he kept getting asks i senators why no one was held accountable. >> how many culpable officers, directors, and key executives have been held accountable, fired? >> we basically determined to shut this business down. over the course of the first two years, we basically reduce the size of the business by about 8500? >> how many were fired? >> 1800 different credit suisse employees serviced 22,000 u.s.-linked accounts. according to the report, only 10 of those employees were disciplined, nobody was fired. is that accurate? >> i think it is largely

accurate. takey do people put money, money out of their country of origin -- >> in switzerland as a country? >> right,. >> historically, one of the things that is highlighted is the ability to shelter assets and income from paying taxes. >> historically a sheltered place for assets. dougan's basic argument, he got ruffled at one point, but he was mostly unfazed. his basic argument was he cannot reveal additional account holder information, additional account holder names unless the swiss government and the u.s. government come together on a tax treaty. he turned it around. he did something interesting, he blamed or urged the u.s. senate to pass the swiss tax treaty. it has not passed the u.s. senate, but it has passed the

swiss parliament. >> hans, another story are watching, how much harmony between angela merkel, german chancellor, and u.k. minister david cameron who meet later today? davide her cameron asked cameron wants this to be full of harmony. president obama has played ping-pong with david cameron, a very gracious host. this challenge today is to convince angela merkel not to go too far over in talking about with the european union means. he clearly needs her support. >> i wonder if he will be presenting her with any more box sets. tvlook that up, it is a u.k. series that apparently angela merkel likes. >> in the ukraine, lawmakers are as to approve yatsenyuk prime minister to lead the interim cabinet end of the presidential election in may. we are in the ukraine, who joins us now from kiev. good to talk to you from there.

tell us a little bit about mr. yatsenyuk and his credentials. of a technocrat. he has been government quite a bit. he has been speaker of the parliament, he has been at the central bank, at the ministry of finance. which is one of the reasons why he has been endorsed by the other members of the opposition, and last night by the crowds at independence square as the guy to negotiate, to do with the imf, the u.s., the e.u. that they so critically need to get started on. parliament is going to meet in just about half an hour and they will start considering his candidacy, and the candidacy of all of the members of the new government. we expected to be pretty much a quick procedure. but he is an interesting guy, 39 years old. his job is going to be to get the financial assistance and also prepare this country for an

election in three months' time. caretaker for three months, then they have the presidential election and everything could change. from will try to attain various parties, whether the imf, the u.s., the european union, and russia is holding off its aid. meanwhile, russian military are operating the rails in the west part of the country. how is that viewed in the ukraine? it is being viewed with increasing concern, because as you know, for months we were talking about the possible secession of regions in the west of the country when president yanukovych was still in power, and now we are looking at the south of the country and east of the country talking about seceding. and we have this warning, quite a development, a group of about 60 unarmed gunmen have in the last couple hours seized the

parliament building. no parliamentarians inside, but seized the parliament building in the capital of prime yeah and raise the russian flag on top of it. n is thatans' concer this new ukrainian government is not as concerned about their interest, their national link which, their culture as ethnic ukrainians. i don't want to use the word balkanization, but there is a concern that could happen. we are talking about the path of aid, preparing the country for presidential elections, but almost daily now there are challenges even to the very territorial integrity of the country. and there is really no sort of acting police force or military to do with these things yet because we are at least an hour away from getting even a new government. to talk to give.

we will speak with you many more times. ryan chilcote on the phone from kiev. >> the world's third-largest smartphone maker wants to double its smart phone sales. here is caroline hyde to talk about this. the mobile world congress. tell us about their ambitions. >> big talk. this is a company that is a traditional at this network -- that is a traditional network company. the u.s. does not really like the chinese making their network equipment, so they're trying to break into the u.s. with mobile phone devices, making high-end products. congress aed at the smart phone, smart bracelet, wearable technology, and they're on a roll. i steer sales rose 70%, 50 million units shipped. now they want to double that, they want to up to 100 million devices shipped.

and they are at the high-end price point, 300 euros, the price point to be tackling apple and samsung straight on. at the moment the average selling price is $161. that is half of the average across the world, and it is much below the $500 we see in the u.s. the deputy chairman said yesterday they are far from been a top player, they have to build up. i spoke with a vice president at the world congress you paid lip service. >> the plan is to be a leader in the world. we want to be one of the leading smart phone and consumer companies in the world. that is really what we are focusing on now. they want to have smartphones at the higher level. we are seeing stagnation in

sales of smartphones. we do in particular the united states, the area they want to penetrate, they are overwhelmed with apple and samsung, maybe they don't need that many smart phones. they're are also fighting a reduction in prices. coming in toe steal market share, why tackle the high-end of the mobile? rather than fighting the cheaper trend of phones. they still want to build their market share, only five percent of the market at the moment. the biggest challenges the u.s. they have actually taken the boy nd the jonas brothers, using them to market them in the u.s. they want their name out there, but maybe they should turn their attention to home, china, only the fourth biggest player in china. >> the jonas brothers. are you a fan? >> i have to say i'm not. >> not anything like jay-z.

>> i'm sure they're very good. i don't know much about them. >> well put. well put. up, a couple in california did not have to travel too far to stumbleupon a rare fortune. at his next. -- that is next. ♪

>> it is time for a look at some of the most compelling images of the day. talk about stumbling on a fortune, a california couple how up being million $10 million $10 richer, finding these rare gold coins in the shadow of an old tree on their country -- they ended up being $10 million richer, finding these rare gold coins in the shadow of an old tree on their property. they will keep some of the coins and sell the rest, donating some of the proceeds to charity. 's desert is home to a different type of fossil. lining the pan-american highway

are whale in marine fossils that are 9 million years old. scientists believe the site is where they died after ingesting poison algae. and a band ox the trend, at highly competitive role usually reserved for models and actresses. they show someone born and raised in the slums. the drum corps wants to go back to their roots. mark, not sure about your dancing skills. over to you. >> you do not want to see me dancing, trust me. here is a man known for his moves. john travolta? on the move, 15 minutes, what our markets telling us? >> it is quite a confused outlook. you have china, there is something afoot in china.

currencyovement on the , we have the unwritten intention by the chinese to move their currency lower, take money out of the system. that is at play. -- australia,, business investment is dropping. lot of various direction in these parts. the conversation last night with a trader who said it will be a great year, manus, we are setting up. the shoe will drop. if not china, it will be the ukraine, if not ukraine, it will be somewhere else. it was very interesting. everybody is trying to trade the news, but they're just not getting the full impact of the news. >> big day for financial related companies. rbs and allianz? >> rbs, john farrell will break these numbers down. politically, the broadsheet said the tabloids, they're cutting

bonuses, but when you look at the heart of the issue, having the conversation about what is rbs, five years on past the crisis, six years on, still taking historical issues on the chin. the biggest upgrading loss since the losses began. the question is, is this ceo who wants to throw the legacy issues and historical relations within rbs? we have rick from state street global, and we will get his perspective. perhaps he can help me wade through the china story. >> thanks, manus. anna? >> you have heard of hollywood and bollywood, but the nigerian film in history is the third largest in the world. with the man behind the nigerian netflix, who weighed in on the opportunity in africa as more people get internet access. >> we actually have more people

watching in london then all of nigeria, which demonstrates the massive opportunity. 170 million people. you look at the tens of millions of users going forward, it will be coming from south africa. >> hear more from jason on the .usiness o >> someone who i know lived in nigeria? am i right? >> it was quite flourishing at the time. talking a very long time ago. jason is a very interesting guy to talk to. as we were discussing, so much of their business streaming these films is carried out in new york, the north america, europe, and london, and for him that indicates they have broad connections, they have broadband connections in nigeria how big the business could be. largestorld's world

container line beating estimates today. speaking with neils anderson, live on the phone from copenhagen. could you very much for joining us today. good morning, sir. -- thank you very much for joining us today. >> my pleasure. >> can you tell us how the shipping industry is dealing with industry overcapacity right now? >> what we are trying to do is we have a strategy for our container line, which is true cost savings and service to customers. we need to be five percent better in returns, the average of the industry, and that is what we are pushing for an succeeding in that. it is really competitiveness that drives the better results. >> nils, talking about overcapacity in the industry, tell us how you are progressing with the p-3 agreement?

this is awaiting competition approval, an agreement with some of your competitors to pool resources on some of the busiest shipping lanes. how are you progressing on that? .> we are waiting approval the main approvals will be coming from the u.s. and europe and china, and we hope of course to get it in the near future. the idea behind the agreement is of course by pulling the networks, we get more direct course, more fuel-efficient fleets, and better offers to customers. it is really a win-win situation. we are not willing -- we are not pooling commercial organizations, it is equipment sharing. we assume it will be approved and i think will be very great for customers and us. oncan you give us an idea

what is happening in the emerging markets? it has been a turbulent month or two. investingmpetitive, in russia, sub-saharan africa, latin america, southeast asia. is the underlying story still strong? >> yeah, i think as you look at financial investors' points of view, they have ideas about pulling out to reinvest elsewhere. i think there is a little different story for us when we are into logistics. no matter how the world economy grows, a little fast or slow, what is really the key to developing these markets is the logistics works. so investment such as ports and other transportation infrastructure, vessels and ships. these are things that are needed under all circumstances. so we will continue, we are very bullish about our opportunities, but that is not really a prediction of how the economies

overall welfare because under all circumstances, the countries really need what we provide, and that also means and return there should be plenty of business opportunities for us. so we are not slowing down. pulling out of financial investors may give us some opportunities to invest more, and we would love to do that. >> nils, thank you. stay with us if you can. plenty more to discuss with the ceo of moeller-maersk. ♪

>> welcome back. this is "countdown." i'm mark barton. >> i'm anna edwards. a quick update on what is happening? >> assets under management rose, the world's biggest traded hedge fund. assets rose three percent. they are down 23% since 2010, restructuring, changing management, buying back debt. all of these at last seem to be bearing fruit. added a cousiney of property trade in the last group, bring back money, and surprise surprise, a share buyback, $150 million worth. a close look at that. >> thank you very much. that is the latest on man group.

,llianz has numbers out, rbs and a french nuclear business. that will do it for "countdown." youanus will be helping through the next hour. see you tomorrow. ♪

>> welcome to "on the move." i am manus cranny in for francine lacqua at bloomberg european headquarters in london. we are moments away from the start of european trading and our markets team has everything covered. rick lacaille will also be joining me in the first half of the show today. he is the chief investment officer of state street global advisors with more than $2 trillion of assets under management. don't miss that first half of the show. first, caroline hyde, jonathan ferro and hans nichols also

standing by. jon, let's kick it off with you. rbs, what a loss. >> to numbers that everybody will be discussing this morning, pretax operating loss of 8.2 billion pounds and a bonus call of 576 million pounds. call innot a big bonus the banking world. owned 81%hat it still by the government remains contentious. >> let's get out to berlin. hans, you're watching the ceo of a bank to put in his performance yesterday in front of the u.s. senate. >> i am glad you used the word performance. there is always a bit of theater involved in these committee hearings. senators did their best to try to allay brady dugan. ground, notve much sure how much resolution there is. we will have a full recap later in the hour. >> thanks for that.