Biggest Bitcoin exchange site turns itself off February 25, 2014 THE LARGEST trading site for the Bitcoin cryptocurrency vanished, along with an alleged $375m-worth of investments. Mt Gox went offline yesterday, less than a month after it blamed “unusual activity” for a decision to suspend withdrawals. The website last night displayed a message telling investors it had shut down “for the time being in order to [...]
JP Morgan cuts jobs and reduces profit target as top exec quits February 25, 2014 THE BIGGEST bank in America, JP Morgan, warned of job cuts and a reduction in profit for 2014 during an investor conference yesterday. Shares in the company were down 1.72 per cent at market close after the news. Around 8,000 jobs are expected to go at the bank, the majority from its mortgage division where 17,000 [...]
Gross uses conga defence to refute claims February 25, 2014 PIMCO boss Bill Gross took to the airwaves yesterday to hit back at reports of tension at the firm. Responding to claims he liked silence on the trading floor, Gross said the reports were “overblown,” adding that he once led a conga line around the Pimco office.
Fed investigates Bank of America February 25, 2014 BANK OF America confirmed yesterday that federal investigators are looking into whether it violated the requirements of a government housing programme, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. In the same filing Bank of America reported it is upping its estimate of litigation-related losses by $1bn to $6.1bn (£3.6bn) in further [...]
Home purchase lending back to pre-crisis levels February 25, 2014 BRITISH banks last month approved the highest monthly level of mortgage lending since September 2007, before the devastating effect of the financial crisis. Mortgages for house purchases have soared by 57 per cent since the same month last year, and remortgaging has also grown by 51 per cent in the same period. The British Bankers’ [...]
Mortgage payments will jump by billions if rates start to rise February 25, 2014 BRITISH home owners could be forking out an extra £2.2bn on mortgage repayments by the end of next year, according to a major bank’s forecast for the Bank of England’s next interest rate hike. In an adverse but realistic scenario, the projection suggests that repayments could rise by as much as £5bn by 2015, raising [...]
Account switch in bank rescue February 25, 2014 THE BANK deposits lifeguard is looking at using the seven-day switching scheme to make it easier for account holders in failed banks. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) guarantees deposits of up to £85,000 in UK lenders, should they collapse. Traditionally it sends customers a cheque to move to a new account. But it is looking [...]
Bank of England gets tough on foreign bank branches in UK February 25, 2014 FOREIGN banks will have to meet tough new criteria if they want to serve British high-street customers, under plans announced by the Bank of England this morning. The Bank’s prudential regulatory authority (PRA) wants to make sure banks can continue to serve customers even if the entity suffers a severe crisis. If the rules are implemented [...]
Dollar’s retreat sinks Ashmore as investors flee February 25, 2014 A WEAK dollar helped propel a big slide in profits at fund manager Ashmore last year, as continued uncertainty over emerging markets helped drive outflows at the group. The emerging market specialist blamed the dollar’s retreat against sterling during the last six months of 2013 for a £30m decline in pre-tax profits. Sterling rose nine [...]
Bonderman’s TPG eyes future flotation to join buyout rivals February 25, 2014 THE CHAIRMAN of budget airline Ryanair and private equity guru David Bonderman yesterday said he was “contemplating” floating his firm TPG Capital. Bonderman, speaking at private equity conference Super Return in Berlin yesterday, said TPG would join the public markets at some point in the future. “At the end of the day, everybody will go [...]