HK insider deal enforcer leaves December 8, 2010 THE head of Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will leave the job next summer after five years. Martin Wheatley, formerly the deputy chief of the London Stock Exchange, joined the SFC in 2005 and took over the chief executive’s role in 2006. Some say he might be a contender to head up the [...]
Tensions flare between euro leaders over bonds December 8, 2010 THE interest on core Eurozone gilts was showing signs of a spreading crisis of confidence at Europe’s heart yesterday, as German 10-year yields spiked to a seven-month high at three per cent. The pressure is telling on the region’s leaders, with Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker lashing out at German chancellor Angela Merkel for what [...]
IMF: Act faster December 8, 2010 THE head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn yesterday criticised European countries for reacting too slowly to the debt crisis. Speaking in Brussels, where finance ministers were debating whether to enlarge the Eurozone’s temporary emergency fund and how to set up a permanent one, Strauss-Kahn said: “It is not a good approach that [...]
Cowen will cling on until election defeat December 8, 2010 IRISH Prime Minister Brian Cowen looks set to see off opposition from party rebels, barring an unlikely cabinet revolt, and lead his Fianna Fail party into an election drubbing that could halve its parliamentary presence. Cowen, whose popularity has plunged into the single digits since his debt-stricken government had to request an EU/IMF bailout, has [...]
Flowers still keen on Spain December 8, 2010 US private equity firm JC Flowers said it still wanted to invest in Banca Civica once the Spanish savings bank completes its merger with domestic CajaSol. Interest from Flowers in the deal was seen to have cooled when its founder said he was not interested in investing in the bank until Spain had restored faith [...]
Irish banks will offer to restructure December 8, 2010 NATIONALISED lenders Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide Building Society will submit a joint restructuring plan to the European Commission proposing they be merged and run down over time. The plan, which must be completed by the end of March, was one of the demands the IMF, European Commission and European Central Bank made as a [...]
New Bank of Ireland debt offer December 8, 2010 BANK of Ireland offered to exchange subordinated debt for government guaranteed securities yesterday in a move that could plug around €400m (£335.7m of its €2.2bn capital hole. Ireland’s central bank wants lenders to “overcapitalise” as a result of the €85bn emergency loan package agreed with the IMF and EU last month, raising its target for [...]
TRADERS GO BANANAS AT ICAP DAY OF DONATIONS December 8, 2010 IT was that time of year again, yesterday – the time for ICAP to unleash the creative instincts of its traders in a four-floor extravaganza of frenzied fancy dress, Flintstone toy cars and beer bottles. The annual ICAP charity day is by now something of a global institution, a day on which the firm’s thousands [...]
FSA’s Turner: Banks need special laws December 8, 2010 CHAIR of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) Lord Turner yesterday called for the British banking system to be subject to a special set of rules and said that directors of banks that had to be bailed out should be banned from serving on the board of other banks in future. He also defended the FSA [...]
Madoff’s UK directors sued for $80m December 8, 2010 THE legal battle over the collapse of Bernard Madoff’s $50bn (£31bn) Ponzi scheme moved to London last night when liquidators of the fraudster’s empire named all the directors of the London subsidiary in a new lawsuit. The complaint against Madoff’s London branch – Madoff Securities International Ltd (MSIL), seeks $80m and names as defendants former [...]