BoA to pay $33m fine over Merrill August 3, 2009 BANK OF AMERICA (BoA) agreed to pay a $33m (£19.49m) fine yesterday, to settle charges that it made misleading statements to its shareholders over bonuses at Merrill Lynch. US watchdog the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), filed civil fraud charges against BoA over allegations that the bank failed to tell its investors that Merrill paid [...]
Whitbread’s chief weighs up options for expansion plan August 3, 2009 WHITBREAD chief executive Alan Parker yesterday revealed he will be launching an extensive international and domestic expansion plan and took City analysts by surprise by hinting he might be prepared to tap shareholders for funds before Christmas. Whitbread, which owns budget hotel chain Premier Inn and Costa Coffee, has been eyeing up prospects in the [...]
NEW FACE AT BOA August 3, 2009 EX-CITIGROUP financial officer Sallie Krawcheck was yesterday named as one of four new executives at Bank of America (BoA) by boss Ken Lewis, as the company goes through a shake-up. She will run BoA’s global wealth management unit. Before working at Citi she was chief executive of Sanford Bernstein.
Spotify gets investment interest August 3, 2009 Digital music service Spotify is understood to be close to winning new investment from high-profile investors, including the charitable foundation of Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing. The service, which has been widely tipped to challenge the dominance of Apple’s iTunes, wants to raise cash to improve its status in the US. Since launching in the [...]
US car sales jump in July August 3, 2009 US CAR sales jumped to their highest level of the year in July as Americans took advantage of the government’s cash for clunkers scrappage scheme, according to industry figures released yesterday. Ford, led by chief executive Alan Mulally, posted a two per cent increase in sales, its first rise in nearly two years, while other [...]
Sunday Times to launch website August 3, 2009 The Sunday Times newspaper will set up its own website, the company said yesterday, adding that it may charge readers for access to its articles. The paper currently shares a website with its sister title, The Times. The launch would mark the first time a Sunday paper has set up its own site. Rupert Murdoch, [...]
New bidders circle Insight August 3, 2009 BANK of New York Mellon and Northern Trust have made a late entry into the race to buy the majority of Insight, the asset manager that Lloyds Banking Group inherited from HBOS, sources said yesterday. Both US banks are understood to have presented binding offers for the unit, valued at between £230m and £250m, with [...]
Bank hate is exaggerated and simplistic August 3, 2009 IF WE are to believe most commentators, it is an outrage that Barclays and HSBC were able to report decent profits yesterday. The main reason, apparently, is that there are “fears” that lending remains too tight, and that the dreaded “bonus culture” will return. Needless to say, had the banks reported a collapse in earnings, [...]
Factories in the UK and US return to growth in July August 3, 2009 BRITISH manufacturing activity grew in July for the first time since March 2008 due to the fastest rate of growth in new orders since November 2007, yesterday’s CIPS/Markit manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) said. The survey showed a rise to 50.8 from 47.4 in June, and above the critical 50 level that separates expansion from [...]
CITY VIEWS: ARE YOU CONFIDENT IN EQUITIES AT PRESENT? August 3, 2009 DARREN FOLGER RECRUITMENT“I have a little more confidence now, I think they will improve. I work for a financial recruitment company and we are doing better now so hopefully it’s a sign the market is improving.” ROBERT GROVES DRESDNER“At present I am. It doesn’t feel like it is the end of the recent stock market [...]