Lazard posts surprise gains October 27, 2010 LAZARD posted better-than-expected quarterly results yesterday, as the New York-based firm enjoyed a boom in its asset management unit but slower gains in advisory revenue. Net profit for the third quarter jumped 18 per cent on last year to $62.2m (£39.5m), or 46 cents a share, while revenue rose 11 per cent to $462.4m. Analysts [...]
Coalition splits over plans to cap housing benefit at £400 a week October 27, 2010 COALITION tensions over plans to reduce Britain’s ballooning welfare bill threatened to turn into a full-scale split last night, after Vince Cable said the government was “open to suggestions” on how to improve the proposals just hours after the Prime Minister insisted they were non-negotiable. Some Liberal Democrats have indicated they will vote against plans [...]
BoE says it can’t predict slumps as Posen warns of more pain to come October 27, 2010 THE Bank of England cannot predict major recessions with any “precision”, the deputy governor admitted yesterday. Conceding that the Bank failed to forecast the “great contraction” of 2008 and 2009, Charles Bean said that only policy-induced recessions, such as those introduced to reduce inflation, were predictable, while in other cases the best policymakers can hope [...]
Deutsche in the red after Postbank buy October 27, 2010 A ONE-OFF €2.3bn (£2bn) charge on Deutsche Bank’s acquisition of Postbank pushed Germany’s biggest lender into the red in the third quarter, though underlying results held up strongly when compared to the bank’s peers. Deutsche Bank posted a pre-tax loss of €1bn for the quarter, compared to a profit of €1.3bn in the third quarter [...]
Mortgage-related legal claims hit $780m as backlash begins October 27, 2010 DEUTSCHE Bank yesterday said it faces less than $1bn (£635m) of claims over mortgage-related securities it helped arrange, amid a growing backlash by clients seeking to recoup losses tied to the credit crisis. The bank’s chief financial officer Stefan Krause told a conference call that Deutsche currently has “approximately $780m of pending mortgage repurchase demands”, [...]
Fixed income holding up October 27, 2010 DURING the financial crisis, Deutsche Bank’s reputation for being solid but uninspiring became an asset, enabling it to emerge from the abyss relatively unscathed. Now it seems to be shaking off the “boring” mantle, becoming the only bank so far to increase revenues from fixed income sales and trading in the third quarter compared to [...]
Webb unveils pension plans October 27, 2010 INDUSTRY breathed a sigh of relief yesterday, after the government watered down plans to boost the number of private pension savers. The government is still pressing ahead with plans to enrol millions of workers into a pension scheme automatically from 2012 onwards, but made several concessions following intense lobbying from businesses. By 2017, the vast [...]
AUTO-ENROLMENT October 27, 2010 Q.HOW MUCH DOES SOMEONE HAVE TO EARN TO BE ENROLED? A.The earnings threshold for auto-enrolment into the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) will be the same as the income tax threshold, currently £7,475 (much higher than the £5,035 level mooted by the last government). But Peter Woods, pensions partner at PwC, points out the coalition [...]
CITY VIEWS: DO YOU THINK AUTO-ENROLMENT IS AN IMPROVEMENT TO THE UK’S PENSIONS REGULATION? October 27, 2010 MARCELLA POLZER | CONCORDIA CONSULTANCY “Overall, it’s better to have a pension scheme, but I don’t think it’s a great improvement because you never know what is going to happen in 30 or 50 years. I’d prefer to be paid more cash now than to be automatically enrolled in a company scheme.” DANIEL FARIKULLAH | [...]
BHP ploughs on in Potash court battle October 27, 2010 THE LEGAL tussle between mining group BHP Billiton and takeover target Potash moved several steps closer to an end yesterday, as Canadian regulators set a date for their hearing and the US courts heard more about Potash’s objections to the takeover. The Saskatchewan securities regulator said it will hear BHP’s challenge to Potash’s “poison pill” [...]