RBS pays $99.5m to settle claims June 19, 2014 The Royal Bank of Scotland agreed yesterday to pay $99.5m (£58.7m) to resolve claims against the bank over Freddie Mac’s purchase between 2005 and 2007 of mortgage-backed securities that went sour. The US Federal Housing Finance Agency said it had now reached 15 settlements, totalling about $16.1bn, stemming from lawsuits it filed in 2011 to [...]
Watchdog starts to micromanage Britain’s banks June 19, 2014 THE BANK of England has stepped in to limit one unnamed bank’s lending, and shaken up the governance structures of another, official documents showed yesterday. In its first year in operation, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) has taken unprecedentedly intrusive steps to rein in what it sees as excessive risks and sloppy behaviour at lenders. The PRA [...]
London FX traders said to have colluded in private chatroom June 19, 2014 MILLIONS of electronic messages sent by a small group of top currency traders are being examined by UK investigators as part of a probe into collusion in the largely unregulated foreign exchange market. The traders reportedly pooled order details from hedge funds and discussed the prices they should be offered in private chatrooms. In a [...]
New US suitor is circling Shire June 19, 2014 US drugs group AbbVie is said to have approached Shire about a potential takeover, becoming the latest American firm to circle a London-listed pharma group. The companies had held talks in recent weeks following AbbVie’s takeover approach, though a formal offer was not certain, Reuters reported last night. Shire has hired Citi to help it [...]
Global regulators fear Vince Cable’s plan to guarantee SME lending June 19, 2014 International regulators are worried that business secretary Vince Cable’s plan to boost small business lending will undermine their careful plans to reduce risk in banking, City A.M. understands. Watchdogs worldwide have spent years since the crisis pushing banks to hold more capital against risky loans, but Cable believes this has cut lending to firms. As [...]
Markit share price soars on first day of US trading June 19, 2014 Markit, the UK financial data provider, saw its shares leap as much as 14 per cent yesterday during its debut on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange in New York. Markit, which raised $1.3bn (£762m) from the float, closed up 11.25 per cent at $26.70 after launching its shares at $24, the mid-point of its price range, [...]
May retail sales dip after Easter buying splurge June 19, 2014 Retail sales fell 0.5 per cent between April and May, dipping after the Easter boost to families’ shopping, even with strong growth on the year. Sales by quantity were 3.9 per cent higher last month than in May 2013, and up 1.3 per cent in the three months to May, when compared to the three [...]
City offices are now as full as before crisis June 19, 2014 OFFICE vacancy rates in the City are back to levels last seen before the full impact of the financial crash in 2008 was felt, according to a new measure of the health of the British financial sector. TheCityUK’s latest tracker of the UK’s competitiveness, seen exclusively by City A.M, showed the amount of spare space [...]
Scaroni heads to Rothschild June 19, 2014 INVESTMENT bank Rothschild yesterday appointed former Eni chief executive Paolo Scaroni as deputy chairman starting 1 July. Scaroni, who was ousted from Eni by Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi earlier this year, will take on the London-based job after nine years at the Italian oil and gas firm. “I am excited about the prospect of [...]
Pound at five-year high as CBI reports best order book results June 19, 2014 STERLING pushed above $1.704 yesterday, breaking into territory last seen before the full weight of the financial crisis hit in October 2008. The pound’s rise came as the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) reported that manufacturers’ order books were in their best state so far in 2014. Sterling’s surge against the dollar also followed comments [...]