S&P cuts Irish banks’ ratings January 26, 2010 Standard and Poor’s rating agency has downgraded Ireland’s banking sector as doubts continue about the fallout from the country’s property crash. S&P downgraded the credit ratings of Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks (AIB). It said the economic climate “will exert significant pressure on Irish banks’ asset quality and earnings”. The outlook for Bank [...]
Novartis chairman quits as CEO January 26, 2010 Daniel Vasella is stepping down from his role as chief executive of European pharmaceuticals company Novartis to concentrate on the chairmanship. He will be succeeded by Joe Jim enez, the American head of the group’s core pharmaceuticals division. The high profile executive has defended his role as both chief and chairman, but Swiss corporate governance [...]
LIDDELL RESIGNS FROM PANMURE January 26, 2010 DAVID LIDDELL, who has been finance director at stockbroker Panmure Gordon since the firm reversed into smaller rival Durlacher five years ago, will resign at the end of March, the company said yesterday. Liddell said his intention was to “pursue other business interests”. Chief operating officer Nik Joint will take on the finance director’s responsibilities [...]
Bank DLR to re-open January 26, 2010 A VITAL transport artery into the heart of the City will re-open at the start of next month after an overhaul to allow longer trains to run, Transport for London (TfL) said yesterday. The Docklands Light Railway station at Bank, which has been closed since Christmas Eve for expansion and modernisation works, will re-open on [...]
Greece reveals plans to sell more bonds January 26, 2010 GREECE said yesterday it will sell more bonds in February, emboldened after its first debt issue of the year was heavily oversubscribed, but the high price will raise pressure for unpopular spending cuts. Strong uptake for Monday’s €8bn (£7bn) bond soothed immediate concerns about Athens’ ability to finance itself in the short term, despite market [...]
ICG profits bring cheer for buyouts January 26, 2010 PRIVATE equity firms and smaller companies breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as mezzanine lender Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) said it would begin deploying fresh cash after an 18-month hiatus. Intermediate Capital, which offers financing for leveraged buyouts, said it would reel out between £150m and £200m annually after the completion of its first transaction [...]
T-Mobile: we must join up with Orange January 26, 2010 T-MOBILE needs to merge with Orange or the two groups will struggle to compete with the biggest operators, the boss of the German firm’s British arm said yesterday. Speaking at the Telecomfinance 2010 conference in London, T-Mobile UK managing director Richard Moat also said he thought a regulatory examination by Brussels would be faster than [...]
New fast access account January 26, 2010 NATIONAL Savings & Investments (NS&I) is set to launch a new mobile account. The government backed company, which also sells Premium Bonds, will allow instant access and have attractive rates of interest. The bold move follows the roaring success of a series of fixed-rate one to five year savings policies introduced last year. NS&I wanted [...]
King: Radical reform vital to the system January 26, 2010 RADICAL reform is needed to create a safer international banking system, Bank of England governor Mervyn King told the Treasury Select Committee yesterday. Speaking along with his colleagues in front of the committee, which is investigating how future financial crises could be prevented, King warned that a long-term approach needed to be taken to address [...]
US: Shares spike as consumer confidence hits 18-month high January 26, 2010 AMERICAN equities made solid gains yesterday, before ending the day slightly lower, after US consumer confidence data painted a picture of a strong recovery in the world’s largest economy. Fresh data from the Conference Board revealed a third consecutive month of gains in its consumer confidence data in January. The index rose to 55.9 in [...]