EVOLUTION NOT REVOLUTION July 8, 2009 CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling yesterday unveiled a white paper on financial regulation that will reform the way banks operate while retaining all the major aspects of the global financial system. Darling’s proposals, while costly and onerous to the City, will mean that giant global financial institutions are here to stay, most activities will continue to be [...]
IMF hikes its growth forecasts July 8, 2009 THE global economy is starting to pull out of the worst recession since the Second World War but, with the recovery expected to be sluggish, policies need to remain supportive, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said yesterday. The IMF updated its world economic outlook, revising upwards its economic growth forecast. A 1.4 per cent contraction [...]
US names PPIP fund managers July 8, 2009 BLACKROCK and Invesco are among nine fund managers named yesterday by the US Treasury to run the public-private partnerships (PPIP) that could buy up as much as $40bn (£25bn) of toxic securities from banks. The Treasury plans to invest up to $30bn into the programme, which will be smaller than the Obama administration initially envisaged [...]
Darling’s report: good in parts but flawed overall July 8, 2009 THERE will be no return to business as usual, not by any stretch of the imagination. But yesterday’s Treasury white paper also confirms that financial capitalism as we know it is here to stay. The authorities want to reform global finance to make it work better and to try and avoid extreme booms and busts; [...]
AIG in talks with MetLife July 8, 2009 STRICKEN US insurer American International Group (AIG) has restarted talks to sell its American Life Insurance Co (Alico) unit to rival MetLife in a deal that could raise $15bn (£9.3bn), it emerged yesterday. The preliminary talks over Alico could break down, as they did in March when AIG, led by chief executive Edward Liddy, and [...]
WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING July 8, 2009 FINANCIAL TIMES ARCELORMITTAL ATTEMPTS TO EASE DEBT BURDENArcelorMittal has started talks with its banks about making conditions for re-paying its $26bn (£16.2bn) of debt less onerous, in a bid to reduce financial pressure on the company as the global downturn continues. The world’s biggest steelmaker has taken this step as an insurance policy against its [...]
MPC’s Miles will quit FSA board role July 8, 2009 NEW Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) member David Miles yesterday bowed to growing pressure over a possible conflict of interest with his post as non-executive director of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and said he would resign from the city watchdog – eight months before he was due to stand down. Although Miles saw no conflicts [...]
Swiss state may sieze client data from UBS July 8, 2009 THE Swiss government yesterday vowed to prevent UBS from handing confidential client information to the US authorities, even if the bank is issued with an American court order next week. Bern, which is keen to maintain the country’s reputation for banking secrecy, said it could take the unusual step of confiscating the data on tens [...]
IBM UK pension scheme may close July 8, 2009 IBM said yesterday it might close its final salary pension scheme in the UK in order to become more competitive and make long-term pension costs more predictable. The IT giant started a 60-day consultation with about 5,000 members of its final salary scheme, representing a quarter of its staff in the UK. It is the [...]
Hedge funds outpace the FTSE July 8, 2009 The hedge fund industry comfortably outperformed equity markets in the first half, according to data released yesterday. The Hennessee Hedge Fund Index showed that the average fund was up and 11.74 per cent for the six months to 30 June , outpacing the FTSE 100 which was down around 4.2 per cent. The Hennessee index [...]