Status threat for City legal giant June 4, 2009 Clifford Chance, the London “magic circle” legal giant, is at risk of losing its standing as the world’s largest law firm, after it said revenues may have dived below levels seen at US peers. Managing partner David Childs suggested at a legal conference yesterday revenues at the firm tumbled by five per cent in the [...]
US derivatives face rules revamp June 4, 2009 US authorities are planning to overhaul regulation of derivatives markets. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission wants transparency measures for customised derivatives, which are usually negotiated secretly by brokers on the telephone, and to have standardised derivatives traded on exchanges.
Quintain sounds alarm bells June 4, 2009 Social housing group Quintain Estates & Development has said its assets have tumbled in value, putting serious pressure on its lending covenants. It warned “material uncertainty” now surrounds its ability to remain a going concern as it failed to complete a vital £100m equity raising in April.
Rio scraps its Chinalco deal June 4, 2009 FEARS of a massive shareholder revolt prompted mining giant Rio Tinto to dramatically call off a $19.5bn (£13.7bn) tie-up deal with Chinese shareholder Chinalco last night. The decision raises questions about the long-term future of chief executive Tom Albanese, the architect of the controversial Chinese deal. He has been criticised by shareholders for breaching pre-emption [...]
UKFI appoints Rock and B&B man June 4, 2009 UK Financial Investments (UKFI) has appointed Santander’s Keith Morgan to manage the government’s stakes in Northern Rock and Bradford & Bingley, it announced yesterday. The organisation, which manages the government’s holdings in part-nationalised financial institutions, said Morgan would join as head of Wholly Owned Investments. Morgan is currently a board director at Sovereign Bancorp in [...]
Blue Index confirms probe June 4, 2009 Blue Index, the contracts for difference broker at the centre of the latest probe by the Financial Services Authority (FSA), broke its silence yesterday and confirmed that the regulator has temporarily banned it from regulated activities. The ban was imposed last week after an FSA-led investigation led to six arrests after eight raids on properties [...]
Paulson loses on Barclays short position June 4, 2009 PROMINENT hedge fund manager John Paulson has abandoned his fund’s short position on Barclays, losing an estimated £100m in the process. The loss will be particularly keenly felt because New York-based fund Paulson closed its position just a day before Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation opted to offload 1.3bn shares in Barclays, pushing the [...]
Fed is cautious on mortgage securities June 4, 2009 THE Federal Reserve was yesterday playing down expectations that it would prop up the market for mortgage-backed securities. The preisdent of the New York Fed said it was still assessing whether or not to include residential mortgage-backed securities in its ambitious consumer lending programme. “No decisions have been made yet,” William Dudley said in response [...]
Countrywide founder is formally charged by SEC June 4, 2009 ANGELO Mozilo, co-founder of what was once the largest mortgage broker in the US, Countrywide Financial, has been charged by regulators for misleading investors, along with two of his former executives. US financial regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a civil lawsuit in a Los Angeles federal court against Mozilo, former Countrywide [...]
YOU’RE HIRED June 4, 2009 SIR Alan Sugar was yesterday called to Downing Street and asked to be Gordon Brown’s “enterprise tsar”. It is not thought that Sugar will become a minister, but No. 10 is hoping that the appointment of a household name like Sugar will add some stardust to Brown’s increasingly problematic reshuffle.