Barclays warns of consolidation October 25, 2010 BARCLAYS president Bob Diamond yesterday predicted that the avalanche of new financial regulation will spark a wave of consolidation across the banking sector, as struggling banks are swallowed up by more successful rivals. Diamond, answering questions from delegates at the CBI’s annual conference, said that higher capital requirements in particular would mean that banks will [...]
Santander: UK is competitive October 25, 2010 SANTANDER’S UK chief executive António Horta-Osório yesterday defended the competitive nature of Britain’s retail banking market, even as his peers warned that regulation may lead to a wave of consolidation in the market. Horta-Osório told the CBI conference that UK retail banking is currently “highly competitive and presents low barriers to entry”, positioning himself at [...]
Tucker: Bank to hold fire on withdrawing stimulus October 25, 2010 DEPUTY governor of the Bank of England Paul Tucker said yesterday that the central bank is unlikely to start withdrawing support from the UK economy in the near future, given the uncertain nature of the recovery. Tucker said the recovery would be “bumpy and uneven” because of “reasonably strong” headwinds, despite a strong rebound from [...]
CITY VIEWS: IS THE GOVERNMENT DOING ENOUGH TO HELP BUSINESSES October 25, 2010 MARTIN MENZIES | LLOYDS OF LONDON “Yes and no, it depends on the situation. They’ve probably not done enough for small business which could do with a bit more money in terms of capital lending. They could probably also do with a reduction in taxation on business accounts to be fair.” PAUL CHADHA | WINE [...]
Invesco deal starts to pay October 25, 2010 Money manager Invesco yesterday said its acquisition of Morgan Stanley’s retail fund business bolstered third-quarter sales and aided a 47 per cent jump in profit. Marking Invesco’s first full quarter since the acquisition closed in June, chief executive Martin Flanagan said integration of the unit with $115bn (£73bn) under management was nearly complete. The only [...]
Lockheed Martin approves plans for $3bn share buy-back scheme October 25, 2010 Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest defence contractor, yesterday said its board approved a new share buyback plan of as much as $3bn (£1.9bn). Lockheed said that through 26 September, it had bought back 169m common shares out of an existing authorisation of 178m shares. As of that date, the firm had about 360m common shares [...]
CITY MOVES | WHO’S SWITCHING JOBS October 25, 2010 Lazard The financial advisory and asset management firm has hired Fotis Hasiotis as co-head of the European financial sponsors group, based in London. Hasiotis joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he was head of EMEA financial sponsors. He originally joined Merrill’s New York team in 2004 from CIBC World Markets, later moving to [...]
Virgin will not compete with rival Eurostar October 25, 2010 VIRGIN Trains has denied suggestions it may launch rival services against Eurostar on the new high-speed line from London to continental Europe. Eurotunnel last week reportedly said Virgin was among those companies who could start running trains from the capital to European cities such as Paris, Brussels and Cologne. German state railway Deutsche Bahn (DB) [...]
Hyundai UK recalls 17,000 cars for checks October 25, 2010 HYUNDAI UK has recalled thousands of cars over fears that winter road de-icing salt may have damaged their suspension systems. The South Korean group is urging owners of 17,000 Santa Fe models made between July 2000 and June 2003 and Trajets from between January 2000 and May 2004 to return them to dealers for checks. [...]
Carlyle in $3bn bid to buy CommScope October 25, 2010 PRIVATE equity firm Carlyle Group is in talks to buy CommScope for about $3bn (£1.9bn), the communications cable maker said. It is the latest sign of a resurgence of acquisitions by private equity firms, which are under pressure to invest billions of dollars of capital raised in the past few years. Private equity takeovers – [...]